Chuck vs The alternate beginning
by Gabriel Fell
Summary: What if Chuck wasn't home the day Bryce sent him that faithful e-mail ? What if, in his absence, NSA and CIA came after his family instead ? How would his life change ?
1. Chapter 1

_A/N _ I own nothing that even remotely belongs to "Chuck". Honestly, they don't even ship Chuck T-shirts to where am I now. How's that for sad ?

** Chuck VS The Alternate Beginning**

part I

He wasn't ready to admit that it was a good idea.

The trip.

Not even to himself.

The thing was, that's simply not the way he spent his birthday. Alone, far from his family, with nothing but glimpses of his rather peculiar life to occupy his thoughts.

But it worked.

Time away from people who served as constant distraction from not so pleasant thoughts had been a blessing. He felt more composed now, stable, and certain of his feelings regarding his Stanford days. And _her_.

Slowly but surely the tears and heartache he felt every time his mind brought her up were transformed into experience, and it hurt less and less with every passing day. The Chuck Bartowski who walked out of Greyhound bus was a new man, ready for new challenges.

If only he knew.

Neither Ellie nor Awesome showed up to collect him, but it wasn't like he could blame them. His sister and her boyfriend both had crazy schedules and more often than not were called to the hospital in the middle of the night. Plus they both had to take care of him, which was more than any sister and future brother in law should ever bear and endure.

This trip was their idea as well. Ellie's actually, but it took a lot of convincing from both of them to finally make him do it.

He made his way towards cab station, mentally role-playing the conversation he'll have with both people that were too awesome for words, when he felt a presence of somebody behind him. Before he managed to force his lanky build to turn around, a silent hiss reached his ears and after a slight pinch in the back of his neck, he knew no more.

**Some time later**

After about 45 minutes of a heated debate with himself, Chuck finally came to conclusion that the place he was locked in was not a basement, or a cellar but most definitely an underground bunker. The moment exhaustion overpowered adrenaline surge from the kidnapping, Chuck's mind started drifting to truly scary places. To repress fear and paranoia, he had to occupy his mind somehow, till exhaustion took it's toll and finally allowed him to pass out. An apt description of the place he was being held in seemed to do the trick.

The room was large and irregular - that much he figured out judging by the way the sound of his whimpers was carried. When lights finally came on, Chuck's heart once again jumped into his throat, and as he could no longer pretend to be unconscious, it was the time to open his eyes.

He was right about the room – it was large, with stacks of shelves taking up most of the space, and possibly making for the whole irregular thing. It was dimly lit, but even so he was able to recognise a lone figure sitting on the other end of a corridor made from neighbouring shelves. He, whoever he was , looked oddly familiar.

"Dad ?" Chuck's mouth ran away from him as soon as he saw more of the profile of his kidnapper. Steven Bartowski was just like his only son remembered him to be. A loner, so the place suited him just fine, with his mind always in thousand different places but hardly ever in the room his body was currently occupying. _And not a talker_ – Chuck added to his mental characteristics of his father, after waiting a minute for an answer.

Instead of giving one, the elder Bartowski just clicked the remote control in his hand, and giant screen behind him came to life, showing the courtyard of his home in a beautiful, high def black and white security feed. Nothing happened at first, but soon he saw Ellie, along with the Captain and Morgan being dragged out of their home. Bounded, and with their heads kept low they were being dragged away by a group of seven people, out of which only two were not wearing a mask.

" Major John Casey of the NSA" Steven said, freezing the feed that currently showed a burly man in his early 40's, in full tactical gear and a mean look on his face. Before Chuck could ask what was going on the picture changed, showing a beautiful blonde, wearing similar attire

"and Agent Sarah Walker. Casey's counterpart directly from the CIA"

"What happened ? " Chuck asked, unable to tear his eyes away from the screen.

"Two days ago, precisely on your birthday, and old friend of yours sent you an email. Inside this email was a computer program with thousands of government secrets inside. Those two went after it and since you weren't home at the time, they took the next best thing" Chuck could hear a sudden, but subtle change in his fathers voice. Granted, it's been years since the last time he heard the elder Bartowski speak and he didn't pride himself as the most astute individual, but the pain was there, clear as day. The picture on the screen changed once again

"Meet said friend of yours"

Chuck took only a fleeting look, recognising the face immediately. "We've met" he said stiffly, surprised with himself that he could somehow look Bryce Larkin straight in the face, so to speak, without overwhelming urge to look elsewhere.

"I don't think you have" Steven Bartowski said, and pushed another button on the remote. The screen displaying Larkin's visage was cut in half and the CIA part of his former best friends life stood right in front of his eyes.

From what he could recall, this whole evil kidnapper thing wasn't his father's usual MO. He always had answers, and was always eager to provide them, no matter the questions Chuck asked. The man facing him now was different. Tight clipped, focused and organised, not allowing anything to disrupt his thoughts. It was Steven Bartowski Chuck never had a chance to experience. Even when he distanced himself emotionally after his wife left, he still made it look like he cared. Now – it was anything but.

He didn't remember his father being a violent man, but it was impossible not to notice 3-point straps attached to his arms and legs. It quickly became obvious that his father believed in the nonsense he was spewing, and when Bartowski believed in something, there was no way of stopping one.

"Why am I tied up ?"

There was no response at all. His father seemed to be in one of his alternate states, like he used to describe them when he was younger. That meant he was totally unresponsive, and all you could do was wait.

"Have you ever heard of intersect ? " Chuck only shook his head no, afraid to brake whatever balance both Bartowskis managed to stumble upon.

"It's an organic computer, adaptable to be implemented inside human brain. That's what Bryce sent you"

_Okay, that's getting ridiculous _Chuck thought, squirming in his seat. The video he was shown made this whole story slightly more believable, but the human computer, come _on .._

"Why am I tied up ? " Chuck asked once again, cutting into his fathers further explanation

"I need to finish what Larkin started. I need you to upload the Intersect and help me save Ellie" Chuck gulped. His father tied him up because it could be dangerous. Wait, who the hell was he kidding, uploading a computer directly into the brain, of course it was dangerous.

"Is it dangerous ?" his own voice sounded timid to his ears.

"No, there's no danger. I tested it myself" Steve answered, checking something up in the background machines

"If you don't want to hurt me, then why did you tie me up !"

"I haven't seen you in years Chuck. I had no idea how you would react and besides, your opinion doesn't matter" the last part was muttered quietly, but Chuck still heard the most of it.

_If he didn't know how I'd react, and gave me no choice in the matter, how he could expect me to do what he wanted after upload, unless..._

"I'd change me" Chuck breathed, coming to realisation. "I'm not going to be myself after that " Steven smiled, it was proud but slightly bitter smile

"What are you doing to me ?" he was way past caring about aggravating his own delusional father. From the look of things, it was as bad as it could get.

"We're saving Ellie" his father answered, straightening up and looking straight into his son's eyes. _Yeah, right_ Chuck thought, gathering what remained of his courage.

"We ? " the younger Bartowski snarled "and how exactly are we doing that ?" his father took his time hooking up the last of the wires before answering

"The CIA and NSA was led to believe that agent Larkin died, destroying the Intersect and sending it to you. That's not entirely correct" the elder Bartowski took one last quick glace at all the wires, before turning back towards his son

"From what I know, he was apprehended by a rogue group of agents who call themselves Fulcrum. I'll be the first one trying to get him back."

"Who'll be the second one" It was worth asking, even though Chuck probably already knew the answer

"You" _Oh, Of course_

"If I succeed, I'll bring Bryce back here, get him to health and upload him with the Intersect. Once the agency will have their precious toy back, they'll hopefully release Ellie and the rest"

"Hopefully ?" that didn't sound like a sound plan

Steven shrugged "You can only predict so much"

"If you won't hear from me in the next 6 days, come back here and follow the instruction I left you. Are you ready ?"

_Like I have a choice_, but he nodded nonetheless.

"This Intersect is different than the one we're going to upload into Bryce. More specialised " Chuck didn't manage to ask what his father meant by that exactly, all of his attention was instantly turned towards two flickering screens.

About an hour later, Orion unhooked his son from the chair, and after closing Chuck's eyes, gently lied him down of the cot inside his lab.

"Aces Charles, your aces " after he ruffled his son's hair, he left, leaving a single note on the bedside table.

_A/N Thanks for reading, hope to see you soon..._


	2. Chapter 2

A/N Just a quick thank you to **uplink2**. It was his patience and attention that allowed me to build this chapter. Thanks again

**Part 2**

"Good morning Charles" Stephen didn't even bother to look up from his papers when his son hesitantly sauntered into living room of elder Bartowskis household, shielding his eyes from the onslaught of light.

Chuck mumbled a weak morning.

"The spinning will pass in a couple of minutes. There's nothing to worry about." _Apparently_, the younger Bartowski thought wryly, since his father didn't even bother to look at him.

"There are some painkillers and water on the table" Stephen waved his hand in completely opposite direction of said table, still occupied by whatever papers he was studying, but Chuck nodded in thanks nonetheless.

"When you get back home, remember to play the part of concerned brother. It's important" Chuck gave his father a puzzled glance. How much playing did the man actually expected ? His sister _was _kidnapped . By her own government. And there was nothing anyone could do.

"I mean go to the police, report a crime. Make sure everybody sees your suffering. It'd help to shake the tail of whoever is watching you"

Chuck blinked.

"You'll have at least 2 government agents watching your every move. Most likely they'll know nothing about the kidnapping so don't get any ideas"

Chuck actually turned his head to see it there was someone else staying behind him. His father couldn't be talking to him. First of all how would he recognise if someone was really following him and second, what _kind_ of ideas could he get ?

"I'll be gone for at least five days. Use that time to get the hang of your upload. If I'm not back in five days .." Stephen finally looked away from his papers" I'll leave the instructions here for you to follow. Make sure to use your time wisely. Now come here"

Elder Bartowski moved a little to the side, making room for his son. At first Chuck wasn't really sure what exactly he was looking at, but not even a second later a cold tingling seeped from the back of his mind, and suddenly plans of some secret hideout, most likely the place they were keeping Bryce in became clear as day.

"There's no way to get him out" Chuck heard himself saying. "They'll have to carry him out for you"

The place had 3 exits, but one was directly under another. Sabotaging both with single charge was the only play he could come up with. After placing the charge, it was all pretty straightforward.

Chuck actually took a step back in surprise once he was done explaining.

Stephen smiled widely "Works like a charm"

**Early the next morning.**

It wasn't working as a charm, nowhere near in fact. Chuck couldn't help but feel betrayed. By his own body. To put it simply - it wanted to go running.

At 4:30 am !

He tried to fight it of course, first by hiding his head under the pillow, then finally by locking himself inside the apartment and throwing the key out of the window, but there was simply no use..

He could give himself some credit though. It was 4:45 when he stumbled out of the Morgan door, barely concious, but in full running attire and after collecting his keys ready to go wherever his legs would take him.

The upload was strict, but fortunately it was not a sadist. It set up proper tempo, controlled his breathing, chose the proper track ..and was gracious enough to let go 15 minutes later, after he almost spat his lungs out.

Sometime later, Chuck decided to give the upload a name.

The Thing.

It lacked originality, that was true, but for one it sounded ominous, which was always a plus, and for the other – the name pretty accurately described what he knew about it.

During those days Chuck also discovered that the Thing grew bored. Quickly, and with passion. He no longer counted small cuts on his hands, when an obscure blade manipulation moves went out of hand. Then there were constant exercises with memorising the layout of places he walked in, number of cars on the parking lot and naturally ever funny situation awareness. Not to mention morning run routine. There were times when he had to look at his driving license to remember where he actually lived and how to get there. It was, slowly but surely, becoming ridiculous.

**Five days later**

"I want that thing out of my head. Immediately" Chuck was, once again – not in the mood. The Thing made him take an 2-hour detour an after that a 30 minute run, just to be certain no one followed him. That could overshadow everything, including the joy at seeing his father alive and well.

"It makes me get up at 4:30 to take a morning run. That's 4:30 AM !" he vented

Stephen rolled his eyes

"Don't" younger Bartowski warned "You don't get to roll your eyes at me" His hands disappeared behind his back, only to appear right back with kitchen knife in each of them.

"I hate those things" he said, throwing the knives haphazardly onto the floor "and yet it seems I can't live without them. I'm terrified of going out between people because, maybe, one day I'll be forced to eliminate the threat." he shuddered "Eliminate the threat – can you believe it ?"

Steven said absolutely nothing.

_Figures.._

"Pathological syndrome of ambitendency " Chuck muttered quietly, receiving a questioning look from his father

"Cool, huh ? Beats Klingon all to hell" he quipped dryly, straightening up

"It means coexistence of opposing desires. Apparently I'm pretty well versed in psychiatric terminology, although right now I wish I didn't know the correct term for first signs of schizophrenia" he looked at his father with pleading, hurt eyes

"Son.." Stephen tried

"I'm pacifist dad, for crying out loud ! I even open the window in my room to let the fly out when I want to get rid of it. That's how much I hate killing"

"and have you ?" his father asked, unable to hide his concern "killed anything lately ?"

Chuck looked at him for a moment, puzzled

"The thought is not as unappealing as I wish it was"

Stephen's hand on his shoulder felt strange, but oddly comforting. Chuck was momentarily taken to the times when such gesture was a frequent occurrence

...and immediately after taken back to present and forced to concentrate of his father's words. _Because they might be important_. How he hated that Thing...

"Get it out" Chuck hissed through clenched teeth

"I can't"

"What ? You mean to tell me you made that thing take control over my life knowing full well that I'll never get it back ?" truth to tell, Chuck had no idea why he felt betrayed. By this time, he should have gotten used to his father antics. Not to mention the elder Bartowski didn't exactly promise anything.

"Get what back ?" Chuck's eyes narrowed. It wasn't like his father to play coy.

"What, exactly, did you put into my head ?"

"Intersect, in it's most basic form is just a collection of data, nothing more. It was designed to work inside agents, who know what they're doing. It's completely useless to civilians, such as yourself" Stephen explained

"So why uploading one ?"

"You're not uploaded with Intersect, Charles. Rather with what I'd call an alternate personality"

Chuck blinked

"You're the reason why it makes you do the things you do" his father sounded exasperated

"Excuse me ? I never wanted to go running at 4:30 am !" it wasn't about running any longer, but Chuck felt he had to stick to principle.

"But you want to save Ellie, and _you_ have yet to find a better plan to do it. When you do, you'll no longer have to get up for an early run"

Chuck didn't consider himself the sharpest tool in the shed, but he could read between the lines when he absolutely had to.

He _relied_ on the thing. It came, and he _allowed_ it to take over his life. If he really wanted to save Ellie, shouldn't he at least _try _to think of some alternate plan ?

Chuck slowly bowed his head in defeat. It was no longer an illusion – his father really knew him way better than he allowed to let on. He was the kind of guy who relied on anything that could help him deal with a problem, hardly ever thinking about solving it himself. Bryce was the first – to show him the ropes of Stanford life, Ellie was second – to pick up the pieces Bryce and Jill left behind. The Thing was the third ...and it was there to stay.

Chuck looked straight into his father's eyes, no longer sure whether he should be cursing him, or be grateful.

"Come on" elder Bartowski smiled, and both men went towards the basement.

The body lying on medical stretcher looked nothing like Bryce he remembered. Ever since Chuck met him, Larkin seemed larger than life, like nothing could touch him Now, sedated, with oxygen mask and various sensors all around his body, he looked anything but.

"He cannot be trusted, you know. " Chuck's eyes were roaming around Bryce's unconscious body, searching for any sign of trouble, till the Thing ensured him that his former best friend will be alright.

"I know" Stephen answered shortly, busy with setting the sedative drip

"But you said we're going to guarantee Ellie's safety with " Chuck made a sour face "him"

"That's true, but I no longer think it'll work." Stephen explained

"They'll get one Intersected agent, true, and he could explain everything, down to the smallest detail. But sooner or later, they'll discover that he did not upload the Intersect in the room he destroyed, and when they do" the elder Bartowski let the explanation hanging

"They'll go after the guy who uploaded it into him. They'll go after you."

Stephen smiled sadly "So you see why Bryce's not enough of a guarantee. Why it has to be me they get"

The thought of loosing a father he never really had was surprisingly painful, Chuck realised. He learned pretty quickly that Stephen was a complex man, and while he hardly ever explained himself, there was always a reason behind his every action. Part of him wondered if his father was always like that. Maybe there was also a reason behind him leaving his family ?

He wanted to ask, to know the truth, but the Thing's intervention made him realise that maybe that answer will be more painful for his father than him. And no one had to convince him that there was enough pain right now, in both of their lives.

Chuck looked at the clock and another painful realisation sprung up from the back of his mind. He spent all too much time in one place to make it look inconspicuous. Sadly, it was time to go

"Will we ever see you again ?" he couldn't help but ask and Stephen's eyes widened at how much his son grew up in the last 15 minutes.

"Of course" the elder Bartowski smiled hesitantly

"Then why does it feel like goodbye ?"

Stephen ignored the question. "Once I'm done bargaining with Beckman and Graham, you should have some peace back in your life."

"Don't worry" he added, seeing Chuck saddened face "With me and a fresh Intersect host, I'm sure they won't be able to refuse"

"That's not what I'm worried about" with his father gone, he'd be the only one to look after Ellie.

"You'll do fine, Charles. You have no choice" and with that, Stephen turned back to Bryce's unconscious body

_Great_ Chuck thought _Just what I needed to hear_


	3. Chapter 3

A/N – Third chapter, folks. Finally the introduction is over, and we can move along with the story. In this place I'd like to thank **Uplink2 – **whose help shaped the character of this chapter, and **esardi** – who managed to keep me on track. Thanks guys.

**Part 3**

**Langley, Virginia**

This wasn't how it was supposed to happen.

But nonetheless Stephen put the pen to the back of a postcard and started filling it's empty space with lies.

Lies about Ellie and Awesome being safe and sound, about positive outcome of a confrontation that hasn't even begun, about how everything will be ok. Lies that would shape the rest of his son's life.

"There's no going back now" he murmured to himself, throwing the postcard into a mailbox.

Headquarters of the CIA wasn't like the one he remembered from two decades ago. It was marginally harder to get in, for one, but on the plus side - forging an analyst pass was still child's play.

Stephen Bartowski showed up in front of Director's office a bit earlier than he would have liked, but it was only because it was surprisingly easy to find the way. It seemed like every path he could take always ultimately lead to Graham's office. There were no illusions as to who run the Agency.

"The Director will be with you shortly, Mr. Foster" Graham's secretary, whose name tag proudly stated 'Denise', gave him a wide smile, aware of his nervousness. Stephen responded with a soft smile of his own, feeling marginally better.

Graham noticed him from the distance away, his outer appearance showed nothing of his astonishment, but the agent in Stephen noticed slightly widened eyes and involuntary tightness of the jaw.

"Bartowski" Director didn't trust to extend his greeting beyond that single word.

Denise was trained in recognising stress patterns in his behaviour and unless he wanted to make the meeting a lot more public – a name alone would have to do. Stephen, for himself, caught on rather quickly and extended that peculiar greeting with his own silent "Graham" and a small smile.

Graham pointed towards his office and Bartowski gladly took the lead, allowing his host to give the secretary an 'all clear' signal, before promptly following in.

Graham's office was bare, save for a giant desk, two shelves and a horde of additional chairs. It spoke of a man who lived for the job and allowed no distractions whatsoever. A firm believer in direct approach - Stephen also mused, finding none of those fancy glass pieces that resided in every other office, whose sole purpose was to serve as a convenient distraction.

"How did you get in ?" Stephen gave Langston Graham a calculating look before answering. The man looking straight back at him wasn't the one he remembered from his time in the Agency. Years hardened his look and gave him that no-nonsense quality every leader couldn't get enough of. Elder Bartowski was hoping that maybe they didn't entirely wipe out his imagination.

"I forged an analyst pass"

It took a minute but Graham finally nodded his head, the implication of that single, stiff movement all too clear. Walking into an office of CIA director and admitting to forgery was a straight way to prison and both men knew that. When he was pointed to take a seat Stephen let out a breath he didn't even know he was holding. From the looks of things, Graham was ready to hear his case, and could care less about the prospect of arrest, at least for now.

Before both men manage to take their respective seats there was a quick knock and without waiting for an answer, the door were opened.

"Graham, what's the meaning of this ? You know you have to use official channels when" General Beckman stopped short noticing another person in the room "Bartowski ?" she stuttered, giving Stephen an incredulous look

"General" man in question gave the General a curt nod and turned back to Graham, noticing a sour look on his face.

"Oh come on" Stephen said, slightly amused "You know very well why I'm here and it's my understanding that you're in this together."

"What is it that you want ?" Graham leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms in front of his chest. Stephen remembered him always doing so when asking questions he already knew answers to. Apparently some things never change.

"What happened with my daughter ?"

"That's classified. Besides what makes you think we'll tell you anything ?" Beckman challenged

"Professional courtesy." Stephen shrugged, ignoring her biting tone. "That and faith that you probably don't want to turn this conversation into a tug-of-war so early"

Graham quickly corrected his pose, giving his guest an assessing look. There was something in the way Stephen Bartowski spoke that made him feel uneasy. Just sitting there, completely unperturbed. Like he knew something neither of the head of their respective agencies had any idea about.

"We had a leak" Graham finally spoke, having had enough of uncomfortable silence "One of my agents went rogue and stole some highly classified data. Before he died, he sent it to your son, only Charles wasn't home at the time"

Stephen nodded, indicating that he was familiar with the story.

"NSA confirmed the arrival of said data to your daughters house, as well as it's collection a few hours later. We went from there" Beckman and Graham exchanged questioning looks, quickly agreeing that it was as much as they could divulge without compromising anything.

But Stephen wasn't satisfied.

"So you sent Walker and Casey to plug the leak" both directors gave him impatient looks, not at all surprised that he knew who came after Ellie.

"But you probably don't know that Larkin was ordered to execute Sand Wall. The order came from the Agency, more precisely from the mole placed in it by rogue intelligence branch you know as Fulcrum."

"It doesn't matter now, since Larkin is dead" Graham said, actually managing to look bored.

"You see that's were you're wrong. Bryce Larkin is very much alive, and eager to get back to work"

"How ?" both directors managed to ask simultaneously

"I rescued him from Fulcrum. He's alive and well ..reasonably well, I mean."

No one said anything for a moment.

"So you want to Trade your daughter's freedom for Larkin ?" Beckman asked, cutting straight to the chase

"Not ...exactly. I want to trade her and her friends release for Larkin. I'm willing to pay more, much more for their freedom."

Both director's eyes glistened

"We're listening"

"I know that Larkin went after the Intersect" Graham opened his mouth to protest, closing it with a snap when he finally realised that no voice was coming out.

"What I'm offering you is Agent Bryce Larkin, with Intersect uploaded into his head and my help and assistance in taking the project wherever you want it to go. What I want in exchange is freedom for my daughter and several minor adjustments to operating procedures." It took awhile for either of Directors to find their voices.

"How do you even know about Intersect ? That's classified above top-secret" Graham sighted, looking like he didn't know why, exactly, he was mentioning it. After all, it was Orion, and the man never really understood what 'secret' meant. Beckman gave her counterpart an annoyed look. If Orion was telling the truth and he really uploaded Larkin with the Intersect, the possibilities were endless. _That_ was important, not some irrelevant procedures.

"Assuming you're telling the truth. What kind of adjustments are you talking about ?" she was quick to divert the conversation into more pressing matters.

"I want Ellie and Devon to become NSA medical officers, effective immediately "

"It can be arranged" General suddenly seemed all to eager to comply, and none of the men could really blame her. Orion was giving NSA, and by extension her, a control packet to operation Intersect and she wasn't going to pass up that chance. In one swift move NSA's role were transformed from a pawn, standing somewhere in the background to one of the key players. She'd take care of Ellie and Devon to the best of her ability. At least for now.

Judging from the look on Stephen's face – he knew it as well. After all, the CIA would have to come up with some sort of explanation as to why they took two proficient doctors and stuck them both in dunk cells. Job offer seemed as good excuse as any.

"So do we have a deal ?" Graham only nodded while Beckman actually came close and shook Stephen's hand.

"Yes" she said "we have a deal"

**Burbank, California**

Three days after that faithful basement conversation Chuck finally received the news from his father, through ordinary post nonetheless. It was a bit lo-tec for a guy who could turn programming into an art, but after numerous comparisons Chuck finally could consider the message genuine.

And it was a good message, through with less words than he would have liked, Stephen informed him that they got everything they wanted.

So success.

Only it didn't feel like one. From the moment Chuck was introduced into internal workings of said deal, he couldn't shake the feeling that his father was hiding something from him. It just seemed like the government got everything they needed for what was realistically only an illusion of freedom for two persons that never really wronged anyone.

Little did he know, said government had similar kind of problem.

**Langley, Virginia**

**couple of days later**

"Team Intersect, finally together" Graham said with small smile once Casey, Walker and Larkin entered the room.

No one, who was somehow familiar with internal workings of the CIA, should be surprised by barely hidden enthusiasm it's director displayed. Intersect project was Graham's baby for over a decade and now, finally, it bore the fruits.

Larkin showed up at the front gates three days ago and since then spent every waking hour going through interrogations, lie-detector sessions, and general pain-in-the-ass confrontations. Finally, he was cleared from any suspicion, as it was confirmed that he actually acted upon received orders.

There was just one flaw in the picture.

Graham had to share the project with General Beckman, chief of NSA. She made that painfully clear when she actually forbade the Intersect from going anywhere alone. She proposed Casey to watch over Larkin and report anything suspicious. As integral part of Agencies power play, Graham ordered Walker to do exactly the same. Both directors knew that what was inside Larkin's head was still a wild card, as much as it's creator, and that ..was another manner entirely.

"While I share some of the Director's enthusiasm for successful launch of the project" Diane Beckman quickly took over the meeting giving Graham a pointed look, one that clearly showed how much of said enthusiasm was shared "there are certain matters that need to be discussed "

"Like what ?" Bryce asked, looking carefully among present agents "I thought you have an agreement"

"Agreement ?" Beckman's eyes narrowed "I wouldn't go that far. You, agent Larkin, unintentionally aided us with apprehending Stephen Bartowski. That's the only thing that we can be certain of" General's face turned sour "at least for now "

"I'm not sure I follow, ma'am" from what Bryce knew, everything was settled. Apparently, that wasn't the case any longer.

"Steven Bartowski was, in his time, known as Orion - leading architect of Intersect project. He managed to escape and purge entire digital track concerning his true identity from both Agencies computers, sending us for 10 year world wide search. " the minuscule General leaned closer to the Agents, lowering her voice

"Now, 12 years later, he comes back and delivers variation of Intersect that we didn't even dream possible, just for a chance of keeping his family save ?" Beckman's face show clearly how unlikely that was.

"But he's got our word. Shouldn't it be enough" Casey was no stranger to spy games, but from the look of things this Orion seemed like a patriot. Truthful and honest man. Much like him.

"Major Casey I'm not sure you realise, but Bartowski escaped for a reason. That alone, should speak enough of his trust in the Agency" Beckman patiently explained

"We have to assume, he took certain steps in order to keep his family safe before walking willingly into Director Graham's office."

"You think he made another Intersect ?" Sarah quickly brought up the only logical conclusion

"We surmised it as a likely possibility Agent Walker" Graham said

"We also think that if Orion gave Intersect to anyone, it'd be his son - Charles" Beckman pointed out

"You need to verify whether that's true." Director added quickly

"I'm sorry director, we ?" Casey asked. It was procedural and professional no-no for several agents playing a single mark. Casey knew that both Graham and Beckman realised it as well, so why they were asking for this ?

"Yes, Major Casey : you. As in all three of you." Bryce was about to say something, but one pointed look from Graham kept him silent.

"When Agent Larkin comes back from the scheduled simulations, you're good to go. Each one of you needs to get close to Bartowski on your own and determine whether he has the Intersect or not. I expect full rapports soon. Treat it like team bonding exercise" and with that the agents were excused. Beckman and Graham shared a quick look and shortly after the General left to honour her part of the deal with Orion.

**5 minutes later**

**outside Graham's office**

"A mark being played by three different agents at the same time. I've never seen anything like that." Larkin shook his head in utter confusion, once three agents were alone and outside of any listening ears.

Sarah could understand Bryce's doubts, as well as wary grunts coming from Casey. Out of three of them, she had the easiest way in. She didn't have Casey's brusque manner or Bryce's history with the subject ...and Charles didn't have a girlfriend.

"The thing is" Bryce's voice brought her back to reality. "Chuck is the smartest person I know"

Sarah raised an eyebrow "Chuck ?"

Bryce actually smiled "He likes to be called that"

"I've never met anyone like him. It' like the guy has no drive, no need to act, but when someone points him in the right direction, Chuck's like a force of nature - unstoppable"

Neither Casey nor Sarah said anything, eager to soak up as much information about their target as they could.

"I'd think that threatening his sister, a person who actually is more like a mother to him would be incentive enough "

"What are you saying ?" Casey asked, trying and failing to sound unerstanding

"I'm saying that we're way over our heads on this one." Larking had a hard time controlling his voice. This alone spoke how unlikely it was for great Bryce Larkin to stay detached throughout entire matter.

"Even the brass has no idea what the hell is going on, they're only keeping their professional faces for our sake. Aggravating this even further by making us try to make a play on him..." Bryce ran a hand through his hair

"I'm saying this could end badly, for all of us".

There were few seconds of silence

"I'm saying I could end badly for Chuck."

**CIA holding facility**

**Somewhere in Virginia**

The sound of clang coming from the lock being opened jarred Ellie from her slumber. Driven by experience alone, she moved quickly to the farthest corner of her cell and covered her eyes with her palms, expecting the flood of all too bright light once again being pointed straight at her face.

It wasn't the case this time.

"Dr. Bartowski ?" the owner of the voice stood at the entrance to her cell, shifting from foot to foot anxiously. It was a voice Ellie didn't recognise, the posture of the man also seemed unfamiliar.

"Yes ?" her voice sounded alien to her, but it's been days since she used it for anything other then screaming.

"We'll get you out in a minute" the voice sounded relieved, apparently the owner didn't expect her to answer. "I was ordered by General Beckman to escort you to her office"

"Who ?" Ellie never heard that name before.

"Brigadier General Diane Beckman, current director of the NSA" the man answered like it was the most obvious thing in the world, but managed to keep his tone away from sounding condescending.

When Ellie, intrigued, finally stood up from her corner, she noticed right away that the man truly was different. For one he had military uniform, with a plaque that stated Mitchell. His eyes, though hardened by military experience, were now soft, compassionate and fair in what Ellie believed was understanding.

"This way" Mitchell lowered his voice even further now that she was close, and unlike all the others, didn't try to grab her and force her out. Instead, he briskly moved aside and only gestured for here to come out. The lights were blinding at first, but after several moments Ellie was able to open her eyes fully and take first uninhibited look around.

"Devon" She screamed once she noticed her fiancee standing further down the corridor, keeping his head down - just as hesitant as she was to take a proper look around. Devon looked haggard, his eyes were swollen and there were several bruises along his arms. It appeared that since he was the man, he received the royal treatment. Both officers tasked with taking the couple to the General moved slightly aside, giving the pair a moment of much needed privacy.

Beckman mentally cursed entire CIA once she noticed the state both doctors were in, but made no comment. After the door were closed behind Ellie and Devon, the minuscule General invited them to take the seats with rather brisk hand gesture, still not saying a word. Ellie and Devon both obliged, although slightly apprehensive and once seated, they turned their eyes towards Beckman with expectant looks on their faces.

"I'm sure you've already came up with a bunch of reasons as to why you're here" One look at them convinced Diane Beckman that there was no use in stringing things along. If she was in their place, she wouldn't care for any sort of explanation at this point.

"I'm not here to explain the Agency's actions. Instead, let me jump quickly to the merit of this meeting" She gave both doctors a look that clearly expected no objections.

"We want you to work for us"

Ellie prided herself for being fairly intelligent woman, but at this point the only thing that came up from her mouth was a slightly confused

"What ?"

Beckman dignified that question with no answer and Ellie took it as her cue.

"After what you did you expect us just sign up like a happy recruits. Are you people insane ?" there were angry tears glistering in Ellie's eyes, and Beckman wasn't the only one who noticed. Devon's body tensed as well, ready to defend his fiancee if push came to shove. The General smiled slightly seeing his reaction – these two will work fine together and maybe, just maybe it wasn't such a a bad deal after all.

"As I've said before" Beckman stressed her words, leaning slightly towards enraged Ellie. "I'm not here to explain or apologise. What we did to you was justified regarding the means and I would not hesitate to do it again, given the same choice. However" she gave Ellie silencing look "to make sure your time here didn't go to waste, we're ready to pay off your student loans once you sign up"

Beckman left the idea hanging, sitting back in her chair and observing couple's reaction. She expected some sort of verbal exchange but apparently Ellie and Devon were so close to each other that no words were needed. It was impressive, the way they silently communicated with each other. General had never before seen such a display of synchronism, even in couples everyone could call happy.

"What if we don't ?" Devon asked, tearing his eyes away from Ellie.

Beckman smiled "What you're really asking young man is if we'll let you go if you refuse. "

Devon nodded

"Unlike what you think, I'm very well aware that you're citizens of this great county and as such, you have unshreddable rights. While undesirable, actions against our own citizens do happen and as director of NSA I've been given a set of tools that helps to deal with any undesired consequences"

Beckman sighted, receiving no response.

"In essence" she tried once more "You're no threat to us."

"And if we do, agree I mean" Ellie asked

"You both will be given a rank of captain and receive full military pension corresponding to it. Your debts will be wiped clean and we start, what I'm hoping will be very successful cooperation"

Both doctors nodded, soaking it all in.

"Why us ?"

"Because of your skills in chosen professions. We need a cardiothoratic surgeon and a neurologist to assist us in a project. You were chosen because of your unique bond and the fact you're living so close to the base of operation." Surprisingly, it didn't feel like a total lie.

Ellie and Awesome shared another quick look, before turning towards General and nodding their heads in agreement.

**Burbank, California  
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Major John Casey lived for one thing and one thing only. It was following orders. In this case the order was simple – determine if the mark has the Intersect. Out of many more or less reliable ways he concentrated on one closest to his heart. It was simple and elegant, at least for him.

All he had to do was to beat the living daylights out of Chuck Bartowski.

He heard the stories about Intersect and it's amazing capabilities. There were rumours around the NSA that proper package can turn the host into an incredible fighter. It only made sense for Orion to upload his own son with something similar. After all, you could only think for so long. Sooner or later the time came when you had to break some bones. So if the geek could stand his ground against him, it meant he had the Intersect. Simple as that.

During two days of observation Casey discovered, much to his dismay, that the mark lead a truly chaotic life. During the day it was impossible to predict Bartowski's movements with any sort of accuracy. The only constant was his daily morning runs. They started at 4:30 am every morning like clockwork and the mark always chose the same track.

It was perfect. Now all he had to do was wait.

Chuck noticed major John Casey even before the giant managed to concentrate his efforts solely along the Thing's running path. It really didn't take a scientist to understand major's play here. A park, even if a public place in general, was deserted in the early hours of the morning. Perfect place to stage an ambush, and beat him to an inch of his life. For a moment though, Chuck hoped for a little less violent confrontation, but it appeared that the major enjoyed simple solutions. And this time pain seemed to be the answer.

Chuck had to give the major points for patience though. He wasted two days getting up earlier than usual and psyching himself up for the beating he was sure _this time_ he will receive, before it actually happened.

On the third day, with a subtlety of the Red Army, Casey jumped in front of Chuck, blocking his way, and waited for about two seconds before taking his first wide swing.

The Thing provided Chuck with the list of openings so long that his head started to hurt. Forcing the back of his mind to remain passive and actually receive a beating took a lot more effort than Chuck expected and in the result the punch caught him unaware, making him fall down.

His vision was still blurry when he felt himself being dragged back up and his attacker started hitting his ribs. Even thought the Thing kept Chuck constantly aware that Casey was just playing with him, putting less than half of his true strength into his punches, it still felt like major was literally breaking his body.

It was with that thought that the Thing finally took over. Chuck could feel his pain lessening slightly and it was marginally easier to breathe, but he didn't feel safer. The hand protecting his face was dropped down to his side. The thing pressed his left arm more tightly against his side and Chuck quickly discovered how two broken ribs actually felt like.

He was one punch away from serious internal injury, according to the Thing, and fortunately his opponent realised it as well. Lightly tapping Chuck's left hand with his right, Casey successfully managed to draw his attention away from his devastating left. A view of a giant fist and a loud scream coming from the back of his mind were the last things Chuck experienced before he fell to the ground unconscious.

After looking at unconscious body for a moment Casey took off his mask and called the ambulance, before quickly running away.

**Burbank General Hospital**

Ellie was in the middle of her first day back, alone. Devon, after the interrogation, was placed in a secure NSA facility till his wounds were properly healed. General Beckman was kind enough to provide her with an explanation letter that mentioned words like 'Top secret' and 'National security'. No one was brave enough to ask any questions.

She was just about to head home when Joy, one of the nurses, told her that Chuck was brought in just seconds ago.

On her way to him she passed a statuesque blonde and a burly middle-aged man, engaged in a quiet conversation.

Sarah was fed up with the conversation she was having with Casey two words after it started. She could already tell that Casey didn't feel proud about what he did, but had enough of pride to try and defend his actions. While hearing how Casey wanted to justify beating up an innocent civilian could be educating, there were more interesting things happening.

Like brother-sister reunion.

Sarah knew that Charles/Eleanor Bartowski situation was insanely complicated. She was kidnapped by the government, he was beat up once she was gone and Sarah expected to see some sort of pity party. Lots of confusion, shouting, tears and anger. But nothing like that happened.

"Look at them." She said to no one in particular. "It's so effortless. There are no hard questions and no demands for an answer. No games. Like the reality of the world outside simply doesn't exist for them. I'll bet he wouldn't even have to tell her anything and she'd have still stood by his side. Just because."

Ever since Sarah was a little girl, her father used to tell her about the art of manipulation. Constantly, over and over again. Trust was earned, it was an illusion that never existed for longer period of time. You simply showed up, lit it up, capitalised on it, then moved away.

Yet there was no earning in what she saw, no fighting for it to remain. It was simply _there - _an illusion that never seemed to end.

"It's good to take a look at what are we fighting for" Casey's voice broke her thoughts

"Yeah" Sarah whispered, her mind still miles away.

"It is"

**Larkin**

"That was great Agent Larkin, I've never seen anyone who could do the things you do with your mind." Bryce passed another overenthusiastic analyst without saying a word.

It's been like that for a couple of days now. Every simulation he tried, every exercise he took, Bryce always left his mark. He was always the fastest, the most accurate, the best. He was the one who caught the attention of everyone, who was followed by countless eyes – wherever he went. And he loved it.

But no matter how much he tried to repress it, the fear was always there.

The fear of being replaced.

Not a single person here knew about it, but he could feel it coming. Everyone, even his own boss expected Chuck to be uploaded with something better than what he had, to actually _be_ better than him.

Chuck - who didn't want anything to do with this whole thing. Deep down Bryce knew that when director said the team he actually meant him. Bryce Larkin was the best agent. Bryce Larkin had the Intersect, and no matter how devious Orion thought he was, it'll be Bryce Larkin who'll be laughing last. No one could wind him up to almost God status and then, with several keystrokes and unwilling participant, _a victim –_ reduce him back to a pawn.

Was it worth sacrificing your best friend, to prove Orion wrong ? To prove everyone who doubted him wrong ?

_Hell yeah._

Chuck wasn't cut out for this life, besides he didn't want it in the first place. Being a spy wasn't his way of life, it wasn't like he would care if someone bested him at it. Chuck would understand – he always did.

After the beating Chuck received from Casey it was still a couple of days before he gets back from the hospital. It was enough to form a plan.

If Orion really gave Chuck the Intersect it must have been for a reason, and other than protecting his family nothing struck Bryce as good enough of one. He would have to use Ellie, at one point or the other. Kidnapping was out of question since Ellie was NSA now and probably guarded as well as Beckman herself. That left one really narrow window of time, when she couldn't confirm her whereabouts to make the play. Once that was done, all it took was finding a secure building and scaring Chuck enough for him to stop thinking and start acting.

**Burbank, California**

**Casa Bartowski**

The phone rang two days after Chuck came back from hospital. It took a moment for him to reach the headset. Casey was thorough, but fortunately he didn't put enough strength in his punches to do some lasting damage.

"Hello" the voice on the other side of the line was quiet at first, but when it spoke Chuck could feel his heart literally freezing

"Ellie's in danger. Fulcrum knows that she is NSA and wants to use her to get to your father" _Bryce_ – in it's haze Chuck's brain managed connect the voice to it's owner.

"What happened ?" he croaked, feeling like all the oxygen was suddenly pumped out of air. This simply wasn't happening.

"They told her CIA agent has been badly hurt and she has to meet the medical team at Legrand's 52. But it's a trap." the line went dead.

Chuck's body wanted to go right now, immediately - and for the first time the Thing didn't even try to stop him.

By the time he reached the place Chuck regained enough of a clear mind to call Ellie and verify Bryce's story. His sister didn't pick up, but it wasn't the first time that happened. Something told Chuck that it was just another test, just like with Casey couple of days ago. To verify if he had the Intersect.

But he couldn't risk it

Surprisingly, it wasn't the Thing that mentioned it. He figured that out all on his won. For some reason his father's upload stayed quiet, calmly analysing the situation. From the very beginning the reasons didn't matter. The upload believed that even if there was the slightest chance Ellie was there, there truly was no choice. He had to go. For the first time Chuck and the Thing were in total agreement. He didn't know if that was something to be happy, or terribly worried about.

The entrance doors were opened. The place was empty – a naked corridor with rows of doors on each side. Third one on the right was the only one ajar, and the weak glow of light could be visible from under it. Taking a big breath of air, Chuck ignored the pain shooting from his side, and gently opened the door.

"and here you are" Bryce smiled widely, once Chuck stepped into the room.

"Where's Ellie ?" the nerd asked, looking carefully around the dimly lit room, but other than himself, Bryce, Casey and Walker, there was no one there.

"You see Chuck" Bryce pointed to the big man on his left "Casey tried to prove you have the Intersect couple of days ago but he was too weak to follow through"

"Larkin" major barked taking a step closer to the smug CIA agent, but Bryce ignored him

"Unlike him, I _know_ you have it buddy and I'm going to prove it now, or die trying."

Cold sweat covered most of Chuck's forehead when he saw Bryce moving closer and taking off his jacket. Larkin was going to fight him, there was no doubt left in his mind. Something inside Chuck's head screamed _run, _but his legs refused to listen.

Chuck left the hospital three days ago, with a strict order not to overdo himself. The Thing told him he was inches from serious internal injury back then, and any sort of added trauma could possibly be fatal. But no one cared. The man who caused that damage was patiently waiting in the background for whatever was about to happen. Much like his partner.

Allowing him to die.

Bryce didn't know or simply didn't care how seriously hurt he was. He was ready to die himself only to prove the existence of another Intersect. To those three people it was all that mattered. With that thought clear in his mind Chuck did the one thing he promised himself early on he'd never do.

He surrendered to the Thing.

The cold exploded somewhere in the back of his head, following down the spine and chilling every nerve ending it came in contact with. The last thing Chuck noticed was malicious smile from his former best friend before his sight was taken over.

Bryce noticed the change in Chuck and without missing a beat, attacked. Chuck stood patiently in place, waiting for his friend to shorten the distance. With no more then 6 feet apart, Chuck exploded into motion. Catching Bryce in a macabre of a hug, he brought his face close to Bryce's and whispered several words. Then he closed his eyes, ignoring Bryce's painful groans, until he felt the body in his arms go lax.

Gently putting his former friend down the Thing let go, allowing Chuck to stare straight into two barrels of guns pointed right at his forehead.

"You're coming with us" he wasn't sure if it was Casey or Walker who said it. It didn't matter anyway..

A/N I AM sorry for the way it ended, but I didn't want Bryce and Chuck to fight, at least not yet. It simply wasn't the time and the place. Besides Larkin fainting will put him out of the picture for some time, and I can finally start with true Charah.

Till next time...


	4. Chapter 4

a/n – As usual I'd like to thank **Uplink 2** and **esardi** for their help with this chapter. Honestly, if it weren't for them, I wouldn't be even halfway through at this point. Thanks guys. I'd also like to thank all those who reviewed. Just because I say nothing about the reviews, doesn't mean I'm not grateful...

**Part 3**

**Burbank, California**

**facility under Orange-Orange**

"You mean to tell me you have no idea how it happened, despite the fact you were there the whole time ?" Beckman gave both her agents an impatient look.

"We got the geek in a holding cell, ma'am" Casey straightened up "Perhaps if we lean on him a bit"

"That's out of the question" the General snapped. "Orion almost broke our agreement once he found out how you 'leaned on' his son earlier, major. Since he's the only one that can explain what exactly happened in that room..." Beckman moved closer to the screen

"Any further aggravation of the situation is out of the question. Find out how Charles Bartowski disabled Larkin without using physical force. Am I understood ?" Before any of the agents could reply, the screen went dead.

"No physical force" Casey grunted, looking angrily at already black screen. "That means you're up, Wonder Girl"

Sarah rolled her eyes, but didn't argue back.

It was possibly wiser, she mused, since Charles already knew that Casey beat him up earlier, and without an excessive physical force as an argument, the man was pretty useless. She, on the other hand was an expert interrogator. Given time, she could break through anyone, provided she had an in.

And that was the problem.

She didn't really know enough about Charles Bartowski to perform her task well. Bryce mentioned that he was the smartest person he knew, but being Orion's son – his intellect was a given. His mind was also the only thing he tried to hide on a daily basis. From what she learned, the rest of him was an open book to those he was close to, and considering the fact that he was social kind of guy, the group was fairly large.

Sarah sighted, standing up and taking the chair with her toward the holding area. She'd have to play it by ear at first, hopefully learn something she could use later and after a day or two - capitalise on it.

Once Sarah reached his cell she noticed him lying on his good side, which unfortunately meant facing away from her, concentrated on taking slow, deep breaths.

"What did you do to Bryce ?" she asked loudly, and a small smirk showed up on her face upon seeing him almost jump out from the bed in fright

"What ?" Chuck asked confused, trying to calm his racing heart

"What did you do to Bryce ?" Sarah asked once more

"What did _I _do ?" Chuck finally looked at her, disbelieving

"Bryce was my best friend. True, we didn't part on the best of terms, but we were speaking to each other. Then yesterday, out of the blue, he tries to kill me. What did _you _do to Bryce ?"

Sarah remained quiet, watching carefully as he tried to sit up, hissing in pain whenever he moved his upper body. He was hurt, and afraid. It'll only be a matter of time before his imprisonment became too much and he'll be desperate for a way out.

Though it couldn't hurt to speed things along.

"We need to know how you knocked him unconscious. That's all. " Chuck sighted and slowly stood up, wincing every once in a while.

"I don't even know how to call what happened to me back there. With Bryce. Honestly, I don't remember how I did it. _If_ it was me who did it." Sarah slowly nodded her head. At least he was talking to her. She honestly expected different from him, judging by what happened to him during last couple of days.

But he wasn't like any of the guys she knew.

Chuck had to smile to himself. For the moment there, he was afraid the Thing oversold his injuries, but judging by the look on her face, it seemed to work just fine. She would leave him alone for now, biding her time, and come back when his state will worsen. And that suit him just fine.

There was one thing that bothered him, though. Agent Walker looked intrigued, but not surprised by his willingness to share. The last sentence was supposed to throw her off her game, but it looked like she almost expected it. Maybe she knew him better than he thought ?

"I'll be here if you think of something" and with that Sarah took her chair and left.

They didn't feed him throughout the day, so there was no surprise when Chuck woke up in early hours of the morning, his stomach rumbling. He was slowly getting tired of this subtle torture sessions. If they didn't give him anything to eat, they probably assumed he'll be able to get something on his own, or starve – more likely.

The lock on the door to his cell had an electronic keypad, and the designer of the place was kind enough to put one inside the cell as well. It was plugged into the main system, but someone disabled it by simply removing the power supply from the unit.

From what Chuck understood about electronic locks, they were really a remarkable piece of engineering. Impossible to hack, even if you had physical access to the unit, resistant to any kind of power surge and it was downright impossible to guess the proper combination. All of it was true, if they were properly introduced to the system ...or properly removed.

Without missing a beat, Chuck brought the power back into the unit, and looked carefully around for any kind of damage he managed to achieve. At first nothing happened, but then the lights on corresponding units in neighbouring cells begun blinking, and the door to his cell fell to the floor.

Ignoring the red light flashing above his head, Chuck quickly stepped out of his cell. It seemed that all CIA covert bases were built using the same layout, because following the voice inside his head Chuck found himself in a small kitchen in no time at all.

Whoever was responsible for equipping this base, clearly ignored the food supply. Other than several kinds of MRE's there was literally nothing else to eat. After disarming one and taking a quick look at what was supposed to be chicken teriyaki, Chuck decided he wasn't _that _hungry, and grabbing several HOOAH! Bars went to see the armoury. The Thing was pretty adamant about his personal security and before he knew it, he was equipped with two knives and a Glock 19.

When Chuck finally came back to the conference room, the red light attached to the ceiling was still blinking happily. It was surprising, since the alarm went off about 15 minutes ago and the Thing was certain that someone should have reacted within first 5 minutes. But if there wasn't anyone nearby to arrest him, Chuck could as well make the best of his time. Especially since they had a giant computer just waiting to be toyed with.

xxxx

Once the door of the freezer closed behind her, Sarah thought she heard the safety switch of a gun being released.

_Schick-Schick_

Ok, _that_ wasn't just belief any more. Sarah heard that sound so many times she couldn't be mistaken - a sound of the slide of a gun being pulled back and released to load the first round. Usually there was a bang shorty after and someone dropped dead. The agent stopped mid-step, and swallowing loudly, turned her head towards the source of the sound - looking straight into the barrel of Glock 19, in a hand of Chuck Bartowski.

_He was a pro._

That was the only thought that raced through her mind. Even sitting in a chair, his stance was near perfect. He was leaning slightly forward to compensate for possible recoil, a gun in a unwavering hand was pointing straight at her centre mass. Sarah looked into his eyes trying to determine his intentions. Except for occasional flicker of light in those brown orbs, that somehow changed his entire demeanour for a split of second, Chuck kept his eyes guarded. For those briefest of moments though, he looked like he was fighting with himself.

His thoughts were jumbled. Pictures and memories were being displayed in front of his mind faster than he could process them. He didn't have a proper description for this particular state, but it felt like the Thing was screaming. Not even half an inch to finally take matters in his own hands. The people he believed could be dealt with without an argument of force already tried to kill him once, and now were starving him to get some answers. They would never stop, unless someone stopped them. He was so close to pulling the trigger, and eliminating one of the obstacles to his and his family's safety.

One living, breathing obstacle...

Chuck closed his eyes.

Sarah didn't dare to move, thinking that whatever was happening to him was just a trap, forcing her to act. But when he opened his eyes again, there were unlike those from several moments ago. He looked frightened, like he understood even less than she did about what just happened.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry. Are you all right ?" Chuck blurted the words out so quickly that Sarah was having hard time understanding. Fortunately, he quickly put the gun on the table and slid it towards her. That didn't require translation.

Keeping an eye on Chuck Sarah slowly went for her gun, but there was no need.

After Chuck gave her his own, he leaned forward, putting his elbows on his knees and kept his eyes fixed on his hands, as if he was looking for an answer to what actually happened.

He looked up when she came near the table and took the gun, but didn't think to move. His eyes centred on her, but it was like he was looking through her, at something else. She had never seen so many emotions in the eyes of another human being ..so at once. How could this be possible in a man she saw moments before ?

Forcing her head to stay in the game, Sarah took a fleeting look around, noticing the cell door.

"How ?" she asked, pointing her gun at the entrance of his cell.

"The lock on the door ...malfunctioned" Chuck gave the piece of enforced fibreglass a remorseful look.

"Why didn't you broke out ?"

His staying inside made no sense. She had seen him at the base computer earlier. He must have had free access, so forcing the entrance door open would be child's play. Then why didn't he ?

"I was hungry" he answered simply.

Sarah's eyes widened. She didn't give him anything to eat, thinking that Casey would surely take care of it. Apparently he must have had the same idea.

"I'm sorry. I just thought that Casey will take care of it" she searched his eyes, thinking he would notice her sincerity, but he kept avoiding her.

"Don't worry about it" Chuck shrugged. It sounded like he expected her to starve him, and for some reason - that hurt.

It didn't occur to her before, but whatever image of her she wanted Bartowski to preserve, it will undoubtedly stick with him for a long time. It served her mission on the one hand, but on the other, it made him think of her as an enemy. Him – a man who managed to blind-side her twice, and was inches away from taking her life the second time.

"I need you to turn around" she said, getting close to the keypad. He did so without question, turning around and closing his eyes. Sarah quickly punched in the code, and once the door opened, gently led him inside. Once again he didn't try to rebel, tell her off, do anything to acknowledge the subtle shift in this situation. So different from the man from moments ago.

Sarah was getting tired of the dichotomy.

"I'll bring you something more to eat in a moment" - she said and quickly walked away.

There must've been something wrong with him, or Walker's watch, Chuck concluded, since he managed to count all the bricks in his cell walls twice, and she still hadn't showed up. He was in the middle of his third attempt, now trying a different technique, when a hardened, bordering on shout, voice broke his concentration and made him loose the count.

The voice belonged to a woman. The Thing believed her to be between 50 and 60 years of age, native American with definite military background. More than likely a boss to both Walker and Casey.

Chuck decided to move closer to the source of the voice, and pressing his ear against air ducts in the fibreglass, he shamelessly listened in.

It wasn't much at first, he recognised several names and places from his previous encounter with base computer, but nothing connected to him directly. Things became more interesting when he heard the words "soft extraction" and "eliminating the threat". Subconsciously his mind begun putting together the facts he learned earlier with what he heard just now, and he didn't like what he came up with.

It appeared that 'General, ma'am' was sending her agents to their deaths, while both Casey and Walker knew nothing about it. Chuck knew, even without the Thing's aide, that he had to do something to stop both agents from executing her orders. His handlers might have been worse than he imagined, but at least he knew that much about them. If they died during this mission, someone would replace them. Agents he knew nothing about. Chuck cringed at the thought of another "get to know each other" moment and, despite the knot in his throat and the twist in his stomach, forced himself to interfere while he still could talk to the three of them.

Closing his eyes, he concentrated and tried to recall the moment Walker opened the door to his cell, waiting for the cold to invade his mind. It came as requested, quickly connecting each particular sound to corresponding number on the keyboard. Six digits and a quick breath later, Chuck was once again a 'free' man.

"Extraction teams will be placed somewhere inside half-mile radius, so when you call for them, the answer should be immediate and Bartowski ?" hearing the incredulity in General's voice both Casey and Walker moved away from each other, drawing their guns and pointing them at Chuck, who swallowed loudly and slowly rose his hands.

"Why didn't you tell them about C4 ?" the nerd asked, trying his hardest to ignore the sweat pouring into his eyes - and two freakishly large weapons pointed at his head.

Beckman didn't answer immediately, taking her time to catalogue everything that happened. Bartowski broke out of his cell – again. Interrupted the meeting – unarmed, knowing full well what he was risking. Now, when she remained quiet for some time, instead of the nerves kicking in like she expected, Charles Bartowski seemed even more determined than ever. Beckman wasn't new to military drill, and could easily spot commitment when she saw one. This one, like most things Bartowski, was slightly unorthodox, but it was still there.

For her to use it.

"Stand down agents" she gave them a pointed look and both Casey and Walker reluctantly lowered their guns.

"Now Mr. Bartowski, what are you talking about ?" Chuck pointed to the keyboard and gave the General a questioning look.

"Go ahead"

It took him couple of seconds to bring up security report from two weeks ago, showing that their target acquired 10 pounds of C4, military grade explosives, along with compatible detonators.

"General ?" Casey asked, but Beckman held up her hand to silence him and turned towards Chuck.

"Mr. Bartowski, are you aware of any more surprises awaiting my agents ?"

Chuck blinked, uncertain how to answer. He didn't pay attention to the beginning of this briefing, so really he had no idea what was said. That C4 manifest was a blind shot of sorts, he knew it to be there, and somehow connected to what the trio was talking about. That was all. Only like everything in his life recently, it bore more fruit than he could bare.

"That's what I thought." Beckman interrupted his musings. "You'll accompany Agent Walker and Major Casey. Agents, make sure to not let him out of your sight"

Chuck hung his head, clenching his fists. Apparently he wasn't supposed to answer after all. General used his willingness to help to enforce his participation. Slowly raising his head, he took a good look at the minuscule General. It was a face worth remembering.

After the screen went dark Casey moved closer to grab Chuck's arm, but the nerd jumped back reflexively, his arm quickly covering his left side. The big man grunted happily, pleased that he could invoke such kind of reaction out of him.

"Walker" he barked, turning around and heading to the armoury "bag the geek"

"It's nerd" Chuck protested weakly, eliciting a smile on Sarah's face

"Come on Mr. Bartowski, we need to go" she basically tried the same tactic at handling him as her partner did, but with slower movements and a smile. It worked infinitely better.

" It's Chuck" he said and forced himself to smile

"All right Chuck. Let's go."

and they went.

**15th minute of surveillance**

**Team Intersect van**

"This is ridiculous, we'll never get in" Casey shook his head, looking helplessly from one monitor to another. Chuck noticed the way major's been clenching and unclenching his fists, impatience to jump into the action and frustration because of no way in.

"Maybe we can find a hole in their patrol routes ?" Sarah suggested weakly, rubbing her eyes. It was apparent she was also moments from abandoning the mission.

Chuck was sitting quietly in the left corner, observing the agents. The Thing provided him with a way in before Casey even managed to park the van, but for the moment he was content in sitting right where he was, and staying invisible. That way nothing could go wrong.

"Hey moron, you have any idea ?" Chuck cursed his timing, but took a fleeting look across the monitors, once again making sure that the way was still there. If either of the agents was desperate enough to ask for his help, it'd do him no good to goof around.

"The hinges" he said quietly

"What ?" Casey barked, putting his hands on his knees and clenching them into fists. Slowly.

Apparently major still thought himself menacing and if it were any other situation, Chuck would totally agree. But this was different, he simply couldn't serve as a punching bag this time.

"The hinges, they're on the outside" Chuck said patiently, pointing at one of the monitors.

"So what ?" even though Casey sounded dismissive, Chuck saw in his face that he really tired to move his thought along.

"The hinges are outside. If you take this saw" Chuck threw him a diamond dust coated elastic string that looked like a sparkling fishing line "and cut the bolts coming out from the lower part of the hinges, the door will remain closed"

"but when they open them, they'll remain open" Sarah finished his thought, giving Casey an expectant look.

"I guess" the major relented "It's not like we have a better in"

"You stay here" he pointed at Chuck, and before the nerd managed to assure him that he never considered moving anywhere, Casey grabbed his wrist and cuffed him into the long bar, welded into the floor. Putting black masks on, and checking if he was cuffed to the bar, both agents disappeared into the night.

It was one of the worst times in Chuck's life. The waiting part, not the being handcuffed to a bar part. He dealt with the second part almost immediately after they left, having purloined a saw just like the one he gave Casey. It always paid to be careful and besides he wasn't certain if he wouldn't have to follow the plan on his own.

But Casey and Walker went out almost 20 minutes ago and so far Chuck didn't hear a single shot. The thing wanted him to go and investigate 10 minutes ago - after all he was the one supposed to protect them, but so far Chuck managed to keep his resolve from disappearing. Unfortunately as the time went on, his paranoia grew. When he finally made peace with a fact that the sole reason for his hammering heart was a gust of wind outside, and it _was_ truly ridiculous, Chuck forced himself to move and check things out.

There wasn't a living soul on the street and, after waiting additional two minutes, Chuck slowly moved towards the building. Casey and Walker took care of the guards that were caught unaware with the door malfunction - each one received a bullet to the centre mass, and another to the head just to be sure. The Thing took a moment to applaud their professionalism, successfully keeping Chuck from fainting at the sight of the blood.

Inside of the building was nothing like Chuck remembered from pre mission browsing. Whoever assembled the data should really look for another work. It was two story building, instead of three, and the number of corridors were limited to two, instead of mentioned four. As if that didn't simplify the things enough, only one of those corridors were lit up – it was the same one the voices of Casey and Walker came from. The Thing believed both agents to be at impasse with whoever they were talking to. Quiet voices and long thought out answered were trademarks of negotiations.

Chuck moves quickly towards the source of the voices, finally making use of that painfully long practised situation awareness. He stopped, plastered to the wall near the entrance, and after taking several deep breaths took a quick look in.

Reuben "Air Carrier" Mugler was standing with his back to the door, using small steps to get out, while Casey and Sarah had their guns trained at his head. His left hand, that he kept behind his back was resting on dead man's switch, while his right one held a gun that he frantically waved around. Chuck, as well as both agents, knew that the guy was in way over his head in this one and it was only a matter of time before he did something stupid, or someone stopped him.

Once again the overwhelming cold exploded in the back of his mind and begun travelling down his spine, but Chuck forcefully locked it down. It was no time for the Thing to take over. There was simply too much to loose.

Whatever his dad uploaded into him, it really believed itself to be skill full. The only problem was, it lacked subtlety. From the little experience he had interacting with the Thing, it preferred the patch of the least resistance, and hardly ever thought about the consequences of it's actions in long term.

It wanted to get there and kill Mugler, not caring about what the act would do to Chuck as a person. He was the one who had to take care about his soul.

The cold once more froze the back of his mind, but it was different cold than before. This one was content with Chuck protecting his integrity, focused solely making sure he'll live to see the other day.

Slowly Chuck bent down, untying his chucks and taking off his socks – stepping barefoot onto the cold floor. The man whose back he was facing was so concentrated on Walker and Casey that he didn't notice him coming in.

It was like watching himself in the movie, on fast forward.

From the moment he took his first step inside the room everything became easy, so impossibly effortless. His situation awareness was all time high. Since he entered, he never took a single look at either of agents and yet he knew exactly where they were, and what they were doing. His breathing slowed down, allowing his heart to come down. Muscles suddenly relaxed, giving him even more speed and agility.

The knife appeared in his right hand seemingly out of thin air, and Chuck could see his fingers guiding it through some obscure movements, judging the weight and getting the feel of the blade.

Movements he was never able to master.

All that was left to do, was choosing the proper strategy. The thing introduced him to countless non-lethal ones, but only a handful ensured that Casey and Walker would live to tell the story. Out of those, Chuck chose the simplest one.

Disabling the opponent.

He didn't notice himself moving closer, or the way his left hand gripped the dead man's switch in Mugler's hand. His eyes were centred on both agents, who in turn watched the movements of his right hand with astonished look on their faces. The knife moved like orchestrated. From under Mugler's right arm towards his forehead, and with barely any resistance down to his outstretched hand. Before the gun Mugler was holding in it fell to the ground, Chuck's right hand moved towards the back of his opponent and then, just as quickly, back against his throat.

"Drop the knife" Sarah ordered, once her eyes returned to their normal size. Casey in the meantime reached for his tranq gun and shot Mugler in the chest.

When Chuck felt him getting lax in his arms, he dropped the knife and fell down along with the terrorist, keeping the dead man's switch secure. Shortly after he heard another hiss of the tranq gun and felt a pinch in his neck.

**Burbank, California**

**facility under Orange-Orange**

"He killed US citizen" Beckman stated for the fifth time.

Sarah narrowed her eyes. It was unorthodox for the General, who everyday was forced to search for out of the box solutions, to stick to such a measly theory so strongly.

"Actually, ma'am he didn't" Sarah quickly hid her smile upon hearing Casey's voice. Apparently she wasn't the only one bored with that conclusion.

"Bartowski ..disarmed him. Mugler died because he was being transported lying head down. It was our intention actually" Sarah knew that wasn't the truth, but since it was impossible to proof, it'd do.

"Agent Walker, it says here that Mugler was cut in two places : his forehead and his right arm. Then stabbed in the back" the minuscule General looked up sharply from her papers

"You call that disarming ?"

"Yes" Sarah stated simply "The cut on his forehead made blood obscure his eyes. Bartowski cut his arm forcing him to drop the gun and as for stab in the back – it prevented him from shouting."

"Fine" the General said after a moment of consideration "We'll forget that Mugler's death ever happened, but I want you to keep an eye on Bartowski." and with that she broke the connection.

xxxx

"Why did you do it ?"

Sarah sighted. She didn't want to explain her reasons, but Casey broke the law with her and he deserved an explanation. Even though at the moment she couldn't give him anything better than half-cooked excuses.

"He broke out and came after us, risking his life. We own him that much Casey."

"True." Casey grunted in agreement "But that's not what I'm talking about."

Sarah decided it'd be best not to say anything.

"Christ Walker" Casey exploded, irritated by her silence " He cut that bastard's arm with surgical precision. Straight through the palm clenching muscles, he missed neighbouring arteries and exposed the nerves, making sure the pain Mugler felt from it was blinding. And that was solely to mask the stab"

"I know" Sarah said softly

"Do you ?" Casey raised his eyebrow, waiting for her to clarify.

She didn't.

"Look Walker, I'm not a blade expert but I know an artist when I see one. I just want to know where your head's at ?"

Sarah gave him a careful look. Casey wasn't much of a talker and it was obvious that he forced his sentences out. She was half-way tempted to wait him out a bit longer, but he did took her side in all of this, and she owed him. Although she was confused with a lot of things lately, she knew what Casey was asking, and she was certain that it wasn't the issue.

"It's not a question of pride Casey" She confessed "There's ...just something about that guy, something I can't wrap my head around"

The major gave her a relieved nod, and promptly walked away.

_a/n - Thanks for reading_


	5. Chapter 5

_A/N – First of all I'm sorry that this chapter is so long. That won't happen again. As usual I want to thank **esardi** and **Uplink 2. **If it wasn't for them, I'd still be in the woods with that chapter. So thank you guys..._

Part 5

**Burbank, California**

**Facility under Orange-Orange**

"Report" General Diane Beckman said in her usual, brisk tone.

"Well ma'am" Sarah cleared her throat.

It was only fair that she would start since it was her show after all. During the first official 'team' meeting the bosses spoken solely to her. Well, more at her - but the fact remained. She was the only one addressed.

"we've managed to accommodate the base to our needs, and .."

"Agent Walker " the General rose her voice, leaning closer to the screen. "Do I look like I'm interested in your sleeping arrangements ?"

This was exactly what Sarah was hoping to avoid. Against her better judgement, the blonde willed herself to believe that she could somehow manage to ease her way into the issue that was Chuck Bartowski. It used to work with Graham, for all it was worth.

"I've got nothing additional to report, ma'am" the blonde said, mentally cursing her voice for sounding so weak.

The general seemed to ponder that development. "So Bartowski's fighting abilities are still all we've got ?"

Sarah nodded.

"Well then, I guess it can't be helped. Use them Walker, but don't hurt him in the process" and with that the General terminated the connection, not bothering to say goodbye.

xxxx

"Sparring ?" Chuck asked, incredulous, once the blonde let him out of his cell "You want us to fight ?"

"_Pretend_" the blonde stressed

..and really, she could do without the eye roll. Sarah knew she was being repetitive, but what else could she do ? His ability to fight was the only thing he couldn't talk his way out of. There might be more to the Intersect he received, but her bosses wanted results, and quick. So at least for now, it was the only way.

"Didn't your partners tried that approach before ?"

Sarah gritted her teeth. She knew he had the right to ask this question. After what Casey and Bryce did only a fool would blindly believe in harmless "sparring". But there wasn't anything she could say or do to placate his fears so, against everything she was taught, the spy opted for honesty.

"It's either that or 24-hour long interrogation sessions"

Chuck's right hand instantly went to his injured side, inspecting the damage done earlier, before he nodded

"Pretending it is".

With a curt nod, Sarah walked out of his cell.

Chuck quickly cleared his head from the thoughts of his impending doom and, not willing to aggravate the blonde, jumped out of his 'holding box' - heading after her. He caught on to Sarah along with Casey, whose look, Chuck mused, couldn't have better expressed his desire to be elsewhere. Even if the big man tried.

"Walker" the major barked, not bothering to acknowledge Chuck's presence "Lock the geek. You've got a mission"

"What mission ?" Sarah asked, forcing her voice to sound polite.

Ever since she was a junior agent, the instructors tried to drill into her the advantage of good relations between the team members. Those relations were not just for show - trust saved lives, so she tried to build the foundations for one among her partners.

"Do I look like CIA's news bulletin, Walker ? " well, so far this little plan of hers was going less than awesome.

"Charming" Chuck muttered quietly, once Casey was safe distance from them

"He has his moments" Sarah answered absent-mindedly. "Come on" she grabbed his shoulder and escorted him back to his cell.

**An hour later**

Sarah had bad feeling about this mission. Ever since the preliminary introduction, it felt odd. The target conveniently left the US a day before, the house she was supposed to infiltrate had custom made security system, and her partner for this endeavour was the only one who knew what to look for. Not to mention that from what she learned studying the plans – the place was a fortress.

That feeling of uneasiness quickly became worse once she saw her boyfriend waiting for her near the target's house.

"Hey honey" Bryce said with a wide smile, taking the passenger seat in her Porsche.

Sarah's smile sprung to her face automatically, but her insides felt frozen. He couldn't be the IT specialist Beckman and Graham mentioned, could he ?

"What are you doing here Bryce ?" She had her suspicions, but on very rare occasions, even she happened to be wrong.

"I'm your partner for our little visit."

Sarah's smile fell.

"Oh come on" Bryce smiled, unaffected by her reaction. "Everything is going to be fine. Orion cleared me for service." he said wiggling his eyebrows "It'll be a 5 minute job".

With a sigh, Sarah opened her door and went after over enthused agent.

5 minutes later...

"Great" the blonde groaned, watching the mainframe's screen go dark, and hearing the clicking of locks all over the place. They were now officially trapped.

"Relax" Bryce said, but even he couldn't quite hide his nervousness."I'm the Intersect. We'll be out of here in no time."

Sarah sat on a nearby sofa, barely stopping herself from rolling her eyes. This was going to be one long afternoon.

**Facility under the Orange-Orange**

**5 hours later**

Someone pounded on his cell walls with such might, that for a moment Chuck was afraid that the reinforced glass will let go. Being on the receiving end of similar treatment before, the nerd managed not to jump half a foot into the air. Instead he turned around towards the source of the noise, quickly enough to notice disappointed look on Casey's face.

_Interesting –_ the nerd mused. Apparently most of the hostility displayed between Walker and Casey was just for his benefit. Or they both simply enjoyed scaring him out of his wits.

"Let me guess" Chuck quipped dryly, before Casey managed to put in the release code "Walk the geek".

"Funny, moron. Now let's get going, the brass wants to talk to you"

Chuck narrowed his eyes, taking a step away from the door. In an eye-blink the Thing managed to fuel his suspicions to the magnitude of paranoia. It took couple of seconds, but Chuck managed to stop the surge of adrenalin going through his body, thinking that if Casey wanted to kill him, he would have done so. Without walking into his cell.

The NSA agent didn't move from the door, watching Chuck's antics with an amused expression.

"We have a situation" he said finally, before turning around and heading back to the conference centre.

xxxx

The room was exactly like Chuck remembered it to be. A giant table that could fit 12 people, and two angry faces on a freakishly large LCD screen.

"Now that we're all here" Beckman gave Chuck a pointed look "Let's begin"

"Mr. Bartowski" Director Graham said, forcing nerd's attention onto himself

"Five hours ago I sent Agent Walker along with an IT specialist to investigate the house of Selene Miller. Mrs. Miller has been on our radar for quite some time, but thanks to recent discoveries we found it necessary to take a closer look and confirm our suspicions."

Chuck nodded, only partly amused with the wordplay. It took a seasoned politician to say 'break in and steal something' in a way that it made one almost guilty for not being able to tag along.

"Unfortunately we underestimated the security of the place. For the last 2 hours two of my agents have been locked up inside, with no possibility of exit. We considered dropping the mission when major Casey here suggested you could help"

"Dropping the mission ?" Chuck asked, against his better judgement. He could imagine, pretty vividly, what dropping would mean in the golden words of CIA director.

"Leaving them there, Mr. Bartowski" Beckman clarified with her usual dose of subtlety "Essentially - allowing them to die"

..and there it was. Both Graham and Beckman were aware of the reasons why Chuck saved their agents earlier. He risked his life to keep Walker and Casey alive and now they expected him to do it again.

Only he found no reason to.

Earlier both agents were in mortal peril. Now one of them stood beside him, perfectly healthy. That was the situation that, according to the Thing, he could live with. There was no reason to risk his life, especially when someone considered a pro at hacking failed so spectacularly. With his meager skills, Chuck knew he stood no chance.

But someone believed in him.

That someone stood beside him right now, argued for him, and was willing to die just for a chance of his partner's salvation. The Thing knew him as a soldier, trained to follow orders and die whenever it was most convenient for his superiors.

It never saw the human behind the mask.

But Chuck did – even if it was a glimpse of disappointment when major didn't manage to scare him out of his mind, it was still human emotion.

"On one condition" he heard himself say

"What is it ?" Graham asked eagerly, much to eagerly for Chuck's liking.

"I want you people out of my life after this is done" the nerd said with finality

"Mr. Bartowski" Chuck cringed at Beckman's all too calm tone "Are you confident that you can get them out ?"

"Enough to risk my life"

Beckman gave him a ghost of a smile. "What if you succeed, how exactly do you suppose we should act ?"

Chuck didn't say anything

"You're a smart man Mr. Bartowski, I'm sure you're aware that cutting us out of the picture at this point will bring you more harm then good."

Chuck hated to admit it, but she was right. Even with all that the Thing could offer, he was just a human being. Alone. And he wouldn't put it past Beckman or Graham to spread the rumours about his predicament, forcing him to search their protection anyway. It was a lost cause no matter how you looked at it. They were sentenced for one another.

"We could let you out from you cell Charles" Graham decided to try a different approach "but you'll still work with us from time to time."

"That means Mr. Bartowski" Beckman interjected "That you'll carry NSA issue GPS watch and phone at all time. You'll provide us with your assistance whenever we want, wherever we want."

The General gave Graham a fleeting look, urging him to continue. Chuck couldn't help but think that they have rehearsed that speech quite a few times.

"We'll clear things out with your sister, explaining your disappearance as a part of her transition to the NSA. Officially, nothing will change - you'll still work for the Buy More."

But unofficially, his world as he knew it would cease to exist. Not that anyone would care. Come to think of it, it was the second time he had his life ripped out from under him. First time, it was his father. The man showed little to no consideration for his wants and desires. Now those two.

Maybe his life wasn't that great after all.

"Fine" the nerd said, suddenly feeling tired from all the thinking.

"We'll take care of everything" and with that, Beckman broke the connection.

"Come on" Casey grabbed his arm and dragged him towards armoury "we have a work to do".

This might not be the best time to search for Casey's human side, but circumstances were in Chuck's favour. They were alone, and since he was tasked for the mission as well, Casey couldn't harm him. At least not seriously.

"Work" Chuck mused, following the major "It's all about merit badges with you, isn't it ?"

"Don't" the big man warned, not even bothering to turn around "Don't try to understand the things we do and reasons behind them".

Casey suddenly stopped, but still didn't turn around to face him.

"You might be a smart man Bartowski, but you're still a newbie in this world and if you want my opinion, it's best for you to stay that way".

They finally reached the armoury. Chuck took a quick look around, the Thing taking it upon itself to provide him with apt descriptions of everything his eyes landed on. Much too vivid for his personal taste.

"It might be too late for that" he mumbled quietly to himself.

There was one thing that caught his eye, the latest model of SEAL ATAK knife. Just sitting there, waiting to be used. Against his better judgement Chuck felt his hand moving towards the knife, when Casey grabbed his wrist.

"No knives for you" the big man grunted "Not whenever I'm around".

They were many possible implications assigned to this statement, but Chuck choose to address the one that suited him best : There was no need for him to defend himself, because Casey will take care of him.

"Thank you" the nerd said sincerely.

The major regarded him carefully and for a moment Chuck could swear that his face turned a bit green. "Ugh" he grunted "Move it, Bartowski" and with a grip that tolerated no resistance he dragged Chuck out of the base.

**An Hour later**

**Selene Miller's residence**

When Casey and Chuck got to the place, it looked like a cop carnival arrived into town and decided to camp right outside Miller's house. From what little Chuck was allowed to know, this was supposed to be a clandestine operation, but with all those light flashing around, it'd a miracle if FOX didn't have the team at the place already.

"I thought this was supposed to be an inside matter" Chuck gulped, looking around.

The Thing did it's best to stress the importance of being compromised upon him, but for some reason the pictures displayed in front of his eyes disappeared the moment he willed them to. Either something was very wrong, or Chuck just got better at controlling his upload.

"You learn something new everyday, don't you Bartowski" Casey quipped

"Stay in the car, I'll take a look around, see what's going on" and as it was his custom, he left before Chuck could say anything in return.

It was strange. They've been here for more than five minutes, but only during the last couple of seconds Chuck realised that he didn't even notice the house both he and Casey were supposed to break into. Closing his eyes, he tried to concentrate on the cold in the back of his head.

It exploded with cavalcade of pictures, most of them showing what happened when soldiers didn't follow orders, refusing to listen to their superiors. For all intents and purposes it looked like he really did turn his internal advisor off, at least for a moment. This wasn't good, and Chuck really did not need the Thing to point it out for him.

No matter the difficulties it caused, the upload was the sole reason he was still breathing, and knowledge that he could turn it off and forget about it just like that scared him a little. Chuck remembered his father mentioning something about him being uniquely qualified for the upload – something about the stage of life he was currently at, emotional insecurity he suffered from, fragility that brought easiness of rebuild...

Himself and the Thing – it was supposed to be a fusion, not a master-servant coexistence. Chuck closed his eyes, shaking his head in disbelief. It's been less than a week, and he already couldn't imagine himself living without that cold feeling in the back of his head.

"What you're doing Bartowski, meditating ?" Casey opened the door on the driver side of his Crown Vic and stuck his head in.

The nerd sighted. "Something like that"

"Whatever works, I guess." The major shrugged. Throwing an official issue FBI jacket and corresponding badge into the car Casey said

"You're now Special agent Charles Bartowski, straight from the FBI. Try to remember that, and for all that's holy – don't show your badge to anyone. This ain't a movie."

Seeing no response from the nerd he added

"I'll be waiting by the side of the house" and with that Chuck was once again left alone with his thoughts.

One thing became clear pretty quickly : another 'upload black out' was out of the question. Too much in his life's been going on recently to allow such kind of luxury. The only solution to prevent that from happening was to force the upload to work along his conciousness - much like it happened earlier on, when he fought Mugler.

But that was easier said than done.

Mugler was just one guy, with his back turned towards him, in the environment Chuck could easily control. But still the speed in which the pictures appeared and the blinding pain that shot through him as his mind tried to interpret them was almost too much. When the adrenaline surge died down, Chuck was truly grateful for being shot with the tranq dart. It felt like his head was about to explode. He didn't want to imagine how this whole thing would work in here, with so many people present. Closing his eyes once again, Chuck took a deep breath, and got out of the car.

This time the cold seeped in gradually, as if wary to not cause any distress. Moving closer towards the house, Chuck couldn't help but notice the 'quirks' of the build - sparsely placed double windows, uncommonly situated door and unusually thick walls. The absence of utility boxes of any sort was also pretty noticeable. The Thing provided the only fitting conclusion, but Chuck simply refused to believe it. Because honestly, who builds a fortress in the middle of a quiet suburban neighbourhood ?

"You got something ?" Casey asked, coming closer.

Chuck felt his mind freeze.

It was surreal, but in the pictures that the Thing displayed in front of his eyes Chuck saw himself. His lanky frame was walking towards the house, using the ladder hidden in the back of the house to get to the roof, and connect to the system through the socket close to one of the roof windows.

"I'm going to need a laptop with 5 pin square DIN plug" Chuck said when the Thing let go.

Casey gave him a curious look, but activated the comlink nonetheless.

"You heard the man" he barked "I don't care how old it is, just get it done !"

5 minutes later some disgruntled technician delivered the required equipment and Chuck took Casey towards the back of the house.

"Can you give us some privacy ?" Chuck asked, pointing to Casey's mic. The older man only nodded before turning the comlink off.

"Bartowski, what the hell is going on ?" the major asked as soon as they were alone.

Chuck mentally cursed himself. He should have known that Casey would ask questions. He was practically leading the man on the blind faith. To a seasoned soldier that was unacceptable.

So it came as no surprise when Casey grabbed the fistful of Chuck's brand new FBI jacket and brought him close to his face. Unfortunately the Thing was in the middle of explaining the procedure for the safe entrance, and noticing that the host's body was in danger - acted accordingly.

Casey's confused expression at Chuck's act of lowering his head disappeared as soon as he felt a pointy object pressing against his lower back. Exactly at the height of his kidney. Casey was a soldier for most of his life, but never before had someone turned him from hunter to prey so quickly.

The major was all too aware that with Chuck's head bowed low, so much that the chin of geek's neck was touching his ribcage, he lost the one chance he had for a single death-blow. With the knife against his kidney, Bartowski had the upper hand. And the bastard knew it well – he even closed his eyes, daring Casey to move. To do something, anything, that might serve as a reason for quick death.

"I will retire you in an eye blink if you try something like that again" the geek's voice was different, but it was only fitting since Bartowski standing in front of him was not the same as well. He was composed, cold and Casey had no reason to doubt the fact that he'd do what he promised.

The major's hand let go on it's own.

The Thing backed out, and after the shock of what he did died down, Chuck felt inclined to forget about that incident. As quickly as possible.

The interface was exactly were the pictures showed it to be, with precisely the kind of connection he requested. Even for someone who generally had no problems believing whatever people said, it was too big of a coincidence. Chuck couldn't shake the feeling that his father had something to do with all of this.

This theory became even more believable when another set of pictures showed up, moments after he plugged the computer into the system. But this time he couldn't blindly follow the instructions.

It appeared that whoever tried to access it from inside the house, actually managed to wipe the mainframe clear. All that was left was the hardware in-build assembler, and it's been years since Chuck used that language.

It took four tries, but Chuck and Casey finally got in.

**Inside the house**

"What do you mean you don't know what's going on ? You're the Intersect for crying out loud ! You've been repeating that for over an hour." Walker's voice echoed around the house.

A flash of anger shout through major's normally impassive eyes. He could understand why the brass didn't feel inclined to inform Bartowski that Larkin was here. But why they kept it from him ? Thanks to that damn inter agency politics someone might day one day.

Speaking of dying...

Casey risked a look in Chuck's general direction, and immediately breathed a sigh of relief. The nerd looked too busy looking at bric-a-brac placed on the shelves to notice anything else, and the last thing he needed was the repeat of the back garden incident.

"Bartowski..." the major tried, summoning his most tentative voice

"Huh ?" Chuck asked absent-mindedly, picking up some obscure looking metal from one of the shelves for a closer look. Casey grabbed his arm and turned him around, coming face to face with a mildly irritated look.

"How about you get us out of here first, and then you can cultivate your inner geek all you want". Chuck gently placed the metal back onto the shelf, giving the room a quick once over.

"Fine" he said finally " but I don't want Bryce anywhere near me during that time"

Casey gritted his teeth. So much for thinking that something could get past Bartowski.

"Sure, kid"

xxxx

"Would you relax Sarah. It's in the Intersect, I'm sure it is. One quick flash and we'll be out of here in no time"

How did Bryce manage to sound so incredibly smug in a situation like this was beyond Chuck. And judging from the look on Casey's face – his thoughts were quite similar.

"That's what you said..." Sarah rose her voice one more in the span of several minutes. From what Chuck knew about her, he could safely assume that she was at the end of her patience. Not that he could blame her – being locked down with Bryce, alone, was too much for anyone to handle. Even the seasoned CIA agent.

"I hope we're interrupting" Casey's voice boomed around the room both CIA agents were in, causing them to turn around abruptly, guns pointed in Casey's general direction.

"We come in peace" Chuck stated weakly, slowly raising his hands. Sarah chuckled seeing his antics, immediately lowering her weapon. A look of relief brightened her face. Bryce for himself mumbled something incoherently, but much to Chuck's relief lowered his weapon as well.

Chuck put his hands down, shooting Casey a pleading look.

"Larkin" big man barked, noticing the plea "Take a break". "Walker"

"watch the geek" Chuck finished for him, eliciting an amused grunt from the major.

Bryce walked out without a word and Chuck happily took his place.

"Told you he has his moments" Sarah brought back the last conversation they had together, taking a place beside him.

Chuck laughed, but it wasn't because of what the blonde agent said. She tried to be discreet, and he hadn't noticed her eyes moving too much while roaming around his body, but the Thing made it feel like she was undressing him with her eyes.

With his left hand, Chuck slowly went for his Skeleton Key, before putting it gently on the table.

"Now I'm unarmed" he said, twirling the knife on the surface of the table "But I want it back"

"Who wouldn't ?" Sarah asked, glancing at the blade appreciatively.

Noticing her slightly more relaxed posture, Chuck turned his full attention towards the screen.

"What are you doing here, exactly ?" the nerd asked, scowling at the computer screen, when the machine didn't answer him the way he wanted it to.

"We're looking for some Intel. Bryce thought it might be at the main server's hard drive, so he tried to hack it. The rest you know"

Chuck nodded, paying half mind to what the agent said. He's been waiting for the cold to invade his mind for some time now, but the Thing kept silent like it was spellbound. Apparently the upload was good for getting him in, breaking out was up to him.

Taking a deep breath, Chuck entered several commands he remembered from his early assembler lessons, and much to his delight the screen sprung up to life.

"How did you do that ?" Sarah asked standing up, and placing herself right behind him, her palms on his shoulders.

"I'm familiar with this system" Chuck squeaked out, feeling uncomfortable with the intimacy.

"Could you ?" he asked, pointing with his eyes to his shoulders "I need to get my laptop"

Sarah put her hands behind her back, but didn't move from the spot. Giving him a small, innocent smile, Chuck couldn't help but think that she enjoyed making him uncomfortable.

"I'm pretty sure the Intel you were looking for was not on this server" Chuck said, reaching for his laptop. With several keystrokes, he started a disassembling program for a simple operating system. It wasn't much, but should allow them to get out.

"So where would you hide it Chuck ?" Sarah asked, mercifully taking a step back.

"I'm not sure" he answered not tearing his eyes away from the screen. "Could we look around ?"

Sarah nodded

"Sure, but the knife stays with me"

xxxx

It was like treasure hunting – from one clue to another with the reason for this masquerade hopefully at the end of the road.

It started with a portrait of Richard Feynman in the hallway. It's been years since Chuck stood eye to eye with the pioneer of quantum computing and his father's favourite scientist. Next clue caught Chuck's eye while both he and Sarah were inspecting one of the pre-arranged offices.

"What is it Chuck ?" the ever-observant spy asked, noticing the nerd's slight hesitation.

"That little thing here" Chuck pointed to golden, brick sized device. "That's D Wave's quantum computer prototype"

Sarah gave him a blank look. It was slowly becoming their ritual of sorts. Chuck noticed that once in a while he would say something and Sarah would freeze, looking like she had just heard some foreign language. Recently it became quite frequent and Chuck liked to believe he got better at recognising it. And clearing it up.

"That's 10 million dollar of a top secret technology lying on a shelve for everyone to see"

The blond agent nodded, but didn't comment. Apparently top secret technology lying on the shelf wasn't as unusual as he believed it to be. Bryce and Casey joined them when there was only one more place to go through left – the basement.

The place was unlike any basement Chuck has ever seen. Instead of a vast, open space there was a long hallway going through the middle, with separate door to enter each part.

"Bingo" Chuck said happily, once he looked through the small in-door window into one of the rooms.

"What is it ?" all three agents simultaneously pushed him aside, eager to see what was inside. Chuck quietly moved away, and smiled when all three tore themselves away from the small window, giving him questioning looks.

"That's XYZ" the nerd explained "Late 50's prototype based on IBM 701. I'll bet my month salary that the data you were looking for are inside that machine"

"Then what are we waiting for ?" Bryce asked, reaching for the handle.

"Wait !" Chuck caught Bryce's hand before his ex best friend managed to open the door.

"It's dangerous. That thing has mercury based RAM modules. They need to be heated up in order to work properly." he nodded his head, like he was done arguing with himself

"I'll go"

"Over my dead body Bartowski" Casey growled, pulling Chuck back with his usual amount of force. Out of them all, he had most experience with mercury vapours. "I'll go, you will instruct me what to do through these" Chuck took one of the wireless com-links with grim expression on his face.

"But.." the nerd tried to protest

"No buts. You can take my merit badge if you want".

"Hey" Chuck objected angrily. That comment was really low, not to mention terribly off topic. He hoped Casey knew why he asked that question earlier on, and what he wanted from the answer. Reducing the issue to merit badges alone wasn't fair.

"Just tell me what to do" Casey looked adamant and short of rendering him unconscious, Chuck had no other idea how to change his mind. Sighing, he gave Casey his own phone

"Take the picture of everything that pops up onto the screen, and hurry"

Casey nodded

Three minutes later...

"It doesn't work Bartowski" Casey shot Chuck a murderous look after he put another command and nothing happened.

"Relax major" Chuck rolled his eyes "That's an old school. Not everything you do shows up on the screen".

Other than the fact that it took 5 minutes to do a 30 second job, there were no other glitches. Casey once again demonstrated impressive ability to follow orders and once Chuck's laptop crunched through the disassembling process it took several keystrokes for them to walk out of that house. Chuck, upon being finally released, wasted no time and got home as quickly as it was possible in LA traffic. The rest of the team Intersect drove dutifully towards the base and stacks of reports that needed feeling.

But before Chuck Bartowski could hail himself a cab, one of the FBI agents offered him a lift. Right after asking for his help...

**Facility under Orange-Orange**

**the same day**

"Damn it !" Bryce shouted, slamming the printout of the obtained code onto the table.

Sarah didn't seem to notice his outburst, watching with an impassive expression how few drops of her coffee spilled out of the cup and stained some of the reports she was working on. She knew from his previous outbursts that the one thing Bryce hated the most was a feeling of being bested at something. It didn't matter what it was – his ego could apparently deal only with absolutes. She learned the hard way that it was best to just patiently wait him out, saying nothing. Eventually he'd get back to normal.

"Hurts doesn't it, Larkin"

Casey however, had nothing against rubbing the shortcomings of the CIA agent in. "Someone bested you at your own game"

Bryce took a deep breath, feeling his muscles relax. Ok, so he was bested, twice – if someone cared to count, but the last thing he needed was for Casey to rub Chuck in his face. And he knew that the NSA agent was itching to do just that. So for the first time in his life, Bryce tried to be the better man.

"It's not a game Casey" he said, reaching for the printout again "We need to get this done, as quickly as possible"

The major smirked "But it hurts just the same, huh ?"

That was pretty much all Bryce could take. Without saying anther word, he stormed out of the conference room. Casey followed him with his eyes, big man's joy was almost palpable.

"Could you take it to Bartowski ?" the major asked Sarah, once the two were alone " Pretty Boy over there was right. We need to get it done"

Sarah nodded. She knew that Casey needed to go to the hospital, and delaying the visit won't do anyone any good. Once the major left, she turned her attention back to the stained reports.

**Casa Bartowski**

**One day later**

Nothing could dampen Chuck's mood. Not his once again usual 4:30 am runs in the park, not constant exercises in situation awareness. Not even the fact that Ellie and Awesome were half the country away on some NSA's training seminar and won't be back for a couple of days.

It felt great to be home again.

So it was with his biggest smile that he went to answer the door, not in the least ashamed that he was fresh from the shower.

"Hey, we managed to decrypt some of the data" Sarah said once Chuck opened the door.

"You mean decode." the nerd corrected automatically "Decrypt would constitute that.."

The blonde spy raised an eyebrow

"Right, umm did you find anything ?" he looked at the stack of papers she was holding with an eager expression.

"Well Bryce thinks it's Java" she handled him the printout of the code.

"It might also be.." Sarah stopped, giving Chuck half irritated, half amused look .

"Why do I even bother" she muttered.

He was completely immersed in the code, paying no mind to the fact that he held her at the door. Or that he was staying at the entrance in his underwear for the neighbourhood to see.

"Well, Bryce is wrong" Chuck stated after a minute, finally realising what position he kept them in. Blushing, he apologised and invited her inside, closing the door.

"See this" he pointed out to the line that stated 'C=A+B'. "That's definitely not Java"

Sarah gave him a cross look "Are you making fun of me Bartowski ?"

"What ? No ! Of course not. Why ?"

Sarah tilted her head slightly to the side

"Right. I'm sorry, again. I forgot that most of the population doesn't need to know the difference between programming language syntaxes" he moved closer to the blonde spy, showing once again the same line of code

"See here" he tapped at the plus sign "It's not addition. You can't add nine and nineteen- dimensional arrays just like that."

Sarah sighted heavily. He just didn't get it.

"Not only multidimensional arrays do not exist in Java " Chuck continued, unperturbed "but to make that line correct, you'd have to overload the operator, and that's also not possible" he looked at her expectantly.

The agent shook her head, smiling slightly

"Go on, I can see you're simply dying to tell me"

Chuck shuffled through the pages one more time "While I see why Bryce might have mistaken that code for Java – they're quite similar after all" Chuck scratched the back of his neck

"You wouldn't use Java to write a real-time based application. It would be a nightmare"

He turned towards Sarah

"That's the only idea I've got. It's possible that this code is a part of some real-time application"

"and it's not in Java ?" Sarah smirked

Chuck smiled back "no, it's not in Java"

He gave her the printout back.

When Sarah reached out for it, she noticed the FBI's case file lying on the living room table. It had one name on it – Jack Burton.

"Where did you get this" she asked with unconsciously sharp tone, picking up the folder with FBI written on the front page in large, red letters.

"One of the FBI agents wanted another set of eyes on the case they were working on" Chuck stammered, seeing sharp look on Sarah's face.

"I took it out of courtesy".

For a minute Sarah said noting, just gazing intensively at the cover. The Thing was certain that it's host had struck a nerve with the name, but couldn't help in finding out who exactly this Jack Burton was. And what was his relationship to Agent Sarah Walker.

"You know you shouldn't have done that, right ?" Sarah asked, using her best patronising tone.

"US law has no definition as to what you are exactly to both NSA and the CIA. You just can't go around collecting FBI case files like that. If something went wrong, how exactly do you imagine Beckman and Graham would be able to explain your presence in an ongoing investigation"

She was right of course, even though it mattered little at the moment. Deep down Chuck had a feeling that she wanted to say more, but for some reason wasn't certain how. Plus he had to admit, her reaction confused him, and being generally a curious individual, he couldn't wait to discover what exactly was hidden behind her aggressive tone.

"Maybe you could help me?" Chuck asked hesitantly, hoping against hope that he read her correctly.

"I have to.." this time Sarah managed to synchronise both the body posture and her tone to one perfect picture of resignation. "but we need to play this close to the vest".

"Good" He gave her his best eager expression.

And he really couldn't wait.

xxxx

For some reason the number Chuck saw in the last flash at the Miller's house has been a constant presence in the back of his mind ever since Sarah showed up at his front step. Once she left, the pressure gradually became worse. Grabbing the phone, he pressed the buttons as quickly as humanly possible, feeling the pain slowly ebb away.

"Bartowski" the voice on the other end said

"Dad ?"

Chuck felt his knees gave way so he sat down – on the floor, inches away from the sofa. His mouth begun working furiously once the weight of the fact reached him, but no vice was coming out.

"Charles" Stephen said jovially "I've been waiting for your call".

There was a brief silence.

"Of course you have" Chuck said, rolling his eyes "A portrait of Feynman, D-Wave's prototype conveniently called Orion, not to mention Polish counting machine from the 50's that has grandpa Bartowski signature all over it."

"Charles..."

"One of the NSA agents went to the hospital because of this data. What were you thinking ?" Chuck was trying to shout but the anger tightened his throat, making it impossible. Never before had he realised exactly how heartless his father could be.

Orion sighted "It wasn't my intention"

"Don't lie!" this time nothing contained the volume of Chuck's voice

"What do you want me to say ?" Orion asked, getting impatient.

"Nothing gained easy is worth keeping and now we know that both agencies will look into it, at least. I need their resources". Chuck opened his mouth and was about to scream some more, but his father beat him to it again.

"You should have stayed in that room for 30 seconds tops. The risk of exposure would be minimal. It was your job, not NSA's"

Chuck couldn't believe the audacity. "A head's up would've been nice"

"You've said it yourself – I've given you more head's up that I ever should" Orion sighted again, making a pause Chuck decided to fill himself

"and that's another matter entirely. Thanks to that accident now both agencies are employing their best men to deal with the problem. They'll figure it out dad, those people aren't idiots"

"I'll take care of it, don't worry. In the mean time try to follow the progress they're making on it. And Charles ?"

"Yeah, dad"

"I'm sorry I underestimated you son. It won't happen again" the line went dead.

It took some time, but Chuck finally realised that through their conversation he didn't ask what the data actually _was. _

He became willing accomplice to whatever his father planned, without second thought. Impulsively, he searched the back of his head for some trace of familiar cold that should've made him act this way, but there was nothing.

Maybe he wasn't as underestimated as his father thought.

**3 days later**

**Facility under Orange-Orange**

"Hey" Bryce greeted in his famous sugary sweet voice "I heard you agreed to help the FBI catch a dangerous fugitive"

Chuck's eyes narrowed. They agreed with Sarah earlier that it's going to be a private matter. Apparently they both understood the definition of private a bit differently.

"Easy" Bryce lifted his hands up, noticing the suspicious look on Chuck's face. "I'm only trying to help"

It was learned the hard way, but Chuck knew that Bryce Larkin offered his help only when it served his own purpose. Super agent with Bryce's ego was the last thing the FBI might need, so out of pure precaution and a bit of self-interest, Chuck decided to downplay his role a bit.

"I agreed to help out of courtesy Bryce. You know I have no experience in this kind of thing and I'm not sure if I even can do it. Besides, Sarah already agreed to help me"

Bryce laughed

"You're so naive Chuck. The only reason Walker agreed to help you was because Jack Burton is her father."

Well, Chuck mused, at least that explained why she practically forced her help onto him and decided that they both should play it close to the vest. But the reason why she told Bryce about it was still the mystery, unless...

"You're her boyfriend" Chuck stated rather than asked.

His ex-best friend just shrugged his shoulders.

"Sarah is very passionate, so believe me when I say that I have my reasons for making her think that. At least for now" his eyes shone in that dangerous glint Chuck only recently learned to recognise

"So what do you say ? We can make a formidable team and catch the bastard. Bartowski and Larkin - ruling again" Bryce lifted his hand for a high-five

"I think I'm going to let it go Bryce. It screams trouble from far away and I'm on thin ice as it is"

Bryce didn't even look that disappointed. The image of thin ice must have lifted his spirits a bit.

"No biggie, but the next time something comes along" the hand went up once more and this time Chuck completed the gesture.

"You'll be the first one to know"

Bryce nodded and left him alone, with a satisfied smile on his face.

Thanks to insane amount of security at the base entrance, the computers inside were also believed to be secure. There was no need for additional authentication, and that suited Chuck just fine.

It was his second time with the system, so it took some tries, but finally he found the GPS track of Agent Walker's cell phone for the last month.

The break from usual monotony of Sarah's movements started exactly the same day she left his apartment. She visited one of the fanciest hotel restaurants in their fair town two nights in a row and according to the image on the screen, she was heading there now.

"I guess there's no time like the present" Chuck muttered to himself, gathering his belongings and walking out of the base. He'd be a bit late for family meeting, but it wouldn't matter all that much.

**Beverly Wilshire hotel**

**later...**

The room was packed, but since it was Saturday evening Chuck knew he should throw all the thoughts of privacy with Walker and her father out of the window. No matter how fun they seemed to be.

Following the Thing's suggestion, Chuck quickly found Agent Walker and her offensive father. She chose the only table with quick access to the rear entrance that also provided unobstructed view of the entire place. Sarah was smart that way.

The cold didn't disappear once he locked his eyes on Sarah. In fact, it intensified even further when the edge of his vision he caught the sight of familiar movement. The FBI was already in, closing on the pair, but Sarah was too preoccupied with whatever her father was talking about to notice.

This was the last moment Chuck could seriously consider walking away. Without any serious consequences. No harm no foul – at least to him. But the incessant picking at the back of his head brought a different thought along. This was exactly what he always did – trying his best, but walking away when things got too intense.

That kind of behaviour gave him a job in a retail electronics store and absolute lack of hope for anything better. Only thanks to the upload that was now patiently waiting in the depths of his brain, last couple of days showed him what life could look like.

Taking a deep breath, and ignoring the surprise among the FBI agents who recognised him, Chuck walked straight towards Walker family table.

Both Sarah and her father were too preoccupied to notice him coming, raising their heads only after he pulled one of free chairs back.

"I know it sounds incredibly rude, but Sarah – could you leave me and your father alone for a moment ?"

It was impressive, how quickly that shocked and astonished sparkle in her eyes died, allowing her usual impassive look to take over. Without saying a word, Sarah took a quick look around, and recognising the FBI, gave her father a quick nod, before leaving the table.

Left alone, two men spent a couple of minutes in total silence.

Chuck was panicking. All those glamorous thoughts of better life escaped as quickly as they showed up, leaving him alone with a wanted man surrounded by a dozen FBI agents all to eager to pull out their guns.

"You look like you could use some water son" Jack Burton slid his untouched lemon water towards him, and Chuck practically pounced on it, eager to have something to occupy his hands with.

The Thing, that up to this moment stayed idle, invaded his mind the moment the water touched his lips. The feeing he experienced during Mugler's case returned full force.

"Your daughter has risked her professional career meeting you here three times in a row and forcing herself into ongoing investigation " Jack could only nod, probably just as shocked as Chuck himself with the sudden metamorphosis. The nerd heard his voice continue

"It says a lot about her, but on the other hand – her boyfriend informed me who you are to her, wanting to be in on the hunt. Her taste in men says a lot about you. I'm guessing that you weren't home enough."

Either the Thing was that good, or Jack Burton was really lousy at his chosen profession. He tried to keep his face impassive and his eyes cold, but his entire demeanour screamed sorrow, anger and willingness to protect. It was everything the Thing wanted to see...

"What I'm saying is" Chuck once again heard himself say "Would you like another chance ?"

Jack looked around the restaurant, noticing quickly the presence of the FBI.

"If that's still possible" the older main said

Chuck understood the heavy voice behind that answer. No matter the way the nerd looked at it – the situation was hopeless. Jack would have to get arrested now, later something could be done.

"We're gonna have to let them arrest you. I'm sorry but there's no other way"

Jack nodded

"Later both, myself and Sarah will get you out claiming you're an important asset for some clandestine CIA operation" he probably didn't have to say it, but he did anyway

"You're life as you know it. It will change forever."

Chuck could see the sadness reflecting in the older man's eyes

"It's about time"

With a nod, Chuck stood up and walked away from the table, noticing with the corner of his eyes FBI agents closing in at all to calm Jack Burton.

xxxx

"How did you know?" Sarah caught up to him moments after he left the room. There was so much he could tell her, but it simply wasn't his place. Not now, and probably not ever.

"Does it matter ?" he asked, reaching for his NSA issued phone. Other than being a wonder to work with, it had oodles of useful nifty software. One of which covered the voice alternation skill. Chuck dialled the number he memorised while going over Burton's file, and waited patiently for someone to pick up.

"It's me" Chuck said in voice belonging to Arthur Graham, before the person on the other side managed to extend his greetings.

"Art" deputy director of the FBI was happy to hear his old friend "What can I do for you ?"

"Jack Burton" Chuck said enigmatically "He's in your hands, and we need him for a clandestine operation. "

The voice on the other side laughed "Say no more. It's always best not to know with you spies" Chuck tried to match his laugh

"I've got two operatives in the area, ready to pick him up. I wouldn't bother you if it wasn't urgent" Some scribbling could be heard in the background

"Done." the deputy said after a minute "Boys at the LA HQ are already waiting. How about 18 holes on Friday ?"

Chuck cringed, praying that Graham enjoyed playing golf with this guy

"Sure why not" he managed finally

"See you there" and the line went dead

Chuck turned to Sarah with a sour expression on his face " I hope Graham enjoys golf"

The agent couldn't stop herself from smiling

"You know that what you just did was illegal ?" She asked with mock seriousness

The nerd shrugged

"They shouldn't upload the tools for it into the phone then"

With the corner of his eyes, Chuck caught Sarah's hand going for his, but her mind stopped the motion in the last possible moment.

The blonde grabbed his elbow instead, moving them both towards the exit.

"Let's get out of here. We've got a prisoner to pick up".

_A/N thanks for staying till the end. Oh, and in case you were wondering : while almost everything written here is fictional - the XYZ was real. _

_There are security systems that in case of compromise allow the input of assembler code alone. Mercury based RAM modules were the high-end of the 50's. _

_Java really doesn't have multidimensional arrays support and totally sucks at real-time based applications. _

_...and D-Wave named their first quantum project Orion :). Till next time..._


	6. Chapter 6

_A/N – I'm sorry it took so long, but for long time I had no idea what to put into this chapter, and besides this story is a teamwork from now on. And from this place I'd like to thank **esardi** – for making sure that my usual amount of idiocy was removed from this part. **Uplink 2** – for directing this chapter the way it's supposed to go and **ersk4 – **for making sure that you dear readers will have less problems with knowing what the hell is going on. So once again, thanks guys._

**Part 6**

It didn't work out quite as awesome as Chuck hoped it would.

Sure - Jack Burton was, or would be, free soon. Sarah seemed satisfied with the way things turned out and Bryce lost a chance to exercise his charming personality. Team integrity was preserved for at least one more day - thanks to him.

But all of that came with a price.

The adrenaline surge Chuck's earlier actions caused wore off somewhere in the middle of the talk with Graham's friend, and the pain was gradually becoming worse, reaching the level where Chuck found himself praying for some sort of relieve. Whether it'd be a tranq dart or a punch to the face.

As if that wasn't enough the Thing decided that now was the perfect time to remind him of the virgin mistake he made by involving an outsider into Jack's rescue mission. It kept forcing the images right in front of his eyes, making the already difficult art of walking even more challenging.

Sarah, fortunately, was being her usual non-invasive self and didn't bother him with any questions, or words for that matter. So, after he shut the passenger door of her father's cabriolet behind him, Chuck closed his eyes, willing his mind to relax.

He fell asleep seconds later.

It truth the blonde agent did notice something strange going on with Chuck, but kept herself from asking questions. It wouldn't be wise in situation like theirs, since the conversation would sooner or later turn towards her father - the one topic she tried desperately to avoid. Things were perfect the way they were now so with a small smile Sarah buckled her asset up and peeled away from the hotel, eager to pick up her other private penance.

xxxx

It took nothing more than her CIA ID and a smile to drive through security and towards the underground parking of the FBI building. Once there, Sarah briefly considered waking Chuck up.

He was her current 'project' after all and his safety, judging by Beckman's fretting, was of paramount importance.

But this was FBI underground parking, what could possibly happen ? Besides she wanted some time alone with her father, and while she knew that Jack could stay cool under pressure, his willingness to share wouldn't be the same with Chuck around.

Father and daughter didn't exchange a single word during entire release procedure, and if it wasn't for that one clever remark Jack put in while being forced outside, Sarah would have trouble believing the man to be her father.

"So dad" the blonde started once they were away from prying ears "what did you and Chuck talk about ?"

Jack smiled at his daughter, ignoring the interrogating tone her voice adopted.

"Chuck, huh ?"

Sarah nodded carefully, thinking that Chuck probably didn't feel the need to introduce himself to a wanted criminal.

"Well, 'Chuck' wanted to keep it private"

Sarah grabbed her father's elbow, keeping him from going further. They were in perfect place for what she wanted to talk about - not too far from Chuck, but not close enough for him to have the possibility of listening in.

"Did he tell you the reason behind the privacy ? " the blonde asked

Jack shook his head.

"That's quite unlike you dad" her voice softened, adopting a caring quality that made the old man nervous.

"Well" Jack tried to discharge the emotion with a smile "we had a meeting quite unlike the others".

"But seriously" he added, noticing his daughter's pensive look. "There's something about this boy".

"Yeah" Sarah agreed "there's something all right".

Jack felt his heart clench at the tone. Among the genuine concern it was laced with doubt, uncertainty and a bit of fear. Last time he heard her use it, his baby girl was 7.

"Honey..." Jack started, unsure how to finish.

Sarah tried to smile, much like he did before. "Chuck's generally a good guy. Smart, caring and selfless. But he has a dark side".

The elder Burton nodded. He hadn't seen someone changing one's entire demeanour as quickly as this 'Chuck' did. Jack was a season pro at adapting the roles, but even to him it felt like he was talking to two different men at the restaurant earlier.

"He's a world class material" Sarah said finally "Whether for a hero, or a bad guy".

**Facility Under Orange-Orange**

**an hour later**

Sarah waked Chuck up after they arrived at Orange-Orange, and couldn't help but notice how the nerd's eyes lit up when he noticed her father sitting in the back seat.

"I'm glad you're here" he said it with genuine care in his voice.

It was a rare occurrence, seeing him so open. His file mentioned candour as his natural state, but the agent saw him like that only a handful of times. Usually when his sister or her boyfriend was mentioned.

That was the moment when Sarah realised how little did she know about him. Her professional pride tried to tell her that it was because Chuck didn't allow her to see anything more than she had, but common sense made it impossible to overlook the fact that it took right kind of character for the nerd to open up. The fact that Chuck didn't discriminate, and treated her father just like any normal person, only added salt to already irritated wound.

"Thanks Charlie" Jack answered with a hesitant smile of his own, quickly getting into the role of a grateful father who appreciated all the things done for him.

Sarah suddenly felt very uncomfortable.

"Come on" she said, breaking the smiling contest and leading both men into the underground base.

Bryce and Casey were already at the table, along the angry faces of the CIA and NSA directors.

"Agent Walker" General Diane Beckman was her usual non-nonsense self "Would you mind escorting Mr. Burton to one of the holding cells so we could formally begin"

The blonde agent gave the General quick nod, grateful for being the one to introduce his father to reality his new life would have to endure. She knew Bryce could do a decent job with it as well, but Casey would probably scare the living daylights out of Jack. It wasn't something she needed at the moment.

Inside the conference room, the bosses didn't bother waiting for the leading agent to return.

"Mr. Bartowski, you brought a civilian into a joint CIA/NSA operation. A civilian whose earlier run-ins with the law make a very dangerous variable" the General leaned closer towards the screen "Other than being Agent Walker's father, was there any reason for his forced recruitment ?"

Chuck had to think quickly

"As a matter of fact yes, there was" the nerd said "his uncommon skills are necessary for the operation you prepared for our team sometime next week" seeing the looks of confusion on both directors faces Chuck decided to clarify "with the sheik.."

"Say no more Mr. Bartowski" Graham said, cutting the nerd short.

The Thing knew that this particular operation was still in planning stage, and showing the knowledge of it, Chuck would force Beckman and Graham to drop the pretensive search for reason of Jack's presence.

Basic eristic, at least according to his upload.

It was probably the last time he had enjoyed an unrestricted access to government computer, but seeing the faces of his new bosses – it was well worth it.

"What makes you think that we could trust Mr. Burton ?" Graham asked, looking uncomfortable under Chuck's calm stare.

The nerd exhaled loudly

"How about we drop the dissemblance?" he asked both his bosses.

"If Jack Burton was enough of a security risk, we wouldn't be having this conversation right now."

Sarah chose that moment to come back and Chuck – feeling her gaze on the back of his head, turned around. Their eyes locked and for the second time today Sarah saw the look of determination on Chuck's face. Much like the one he had whenever his family's safety came into play. Now it was about her father.

_What the hell those two talked about_ _? _The blonde wondered, breaking the look and turning towards Beckman and Graham.

"Mr. Bartowski, we need to talk in private"

This time there was no uncertainty in Graham's expression. The man looked downright pissed and Chuck gulped, having pretty good idea what the conversation could be about.

With a nod towards the General, the nerd moved into one of the private conference rooms, leaving the rest of the team with Beckman.

"Agent Walker" the General said, once the lock in the door behind Chuck clicked shut. "Did you find out more about the Intersect inside Mr. Bartowski's head? "

Both of her partners didn't quite manage to hide their amusement, seeing the blonde struggling for an answer. Sarah bristled inside – they were supposed to be a team. _Her_ team. But from where she was standing they looked more like a bunch of ego-oversized apes, who would be first to throw a kindling if she ever caught fire, than try helping her.

"General, there wasn't enough time for a believable analysis.."

"Enough time..." Beckman seethed "Not enough time, agent ?" the minuscule woman actually became red in the face

"Bartowski managed to break you out of the trap Larkin put you in. Then saved your father from prison and you from a rather sad career end, not to mention he made a headway with the code he shouldn't have been forced to obtain in the first place. Where were you the whole time ?"

Sarah said nothing.

"There are times I'm wondering who's the agent and who's the asset in that little dance of yours" This time even the quiet sniggers from behind her back stopped. When the supreme officer questioned the efficiency of the team in a way the General did, it was clear for all that they were seconds from being transferred, or worse.

"Dismissed"

The screen went black.

**In the meantime**

"Mr. Bartowski" Chuck straightened up hearing the Director's voice "You know what the penalty for impersonating an important figure in the Intelligence business is ? Especially if the imposter possesses the knowledge he isn't supposed to ?"

Up to this moment Chuck considered Graham an easily influenced politician, eager to please anyone with enough clout. But anyone who managed to smuggle a listless threat inside an innocent sounding question, deserved some respect.

The Thing wasn't impressed though, and wanted to push Graham some more but Chuck felt discouraged enough. He knew that he already paid more for his 'rescue' attempt than he should and there was no reason to aggravate the situation any more. It would be best to stay honest from now on.

"No idea, Sir. I got the job today"

Graham tried to keep his face stern, but quickly lost the fight. His laughter filled the room seconds later.

"I'd be lying if I said that I don't appreciate what you did for Sarah." the smile vanished from Garahm's face "Despite my wishing Agent Walker still considers her looser of a father an important part of her life"

Chuck didn't need the Thing to know that Graham was baiting him. The harsh words were meant to cause the reaction and allow Graham more insight into his head. It was the same old game with the same old rules, according to which Chuck should stay quiet.

And he did - making the older man smile.

"Great, I'm glad that we understand each other." the Director said, falling deeper into his chair "Now, since Jack Burton is your 'project', you'll take care of him. Keep him in your house long enough for that operation you shouldn't have known about to end. Then I'll sign his parole and he'll be free once again."

Chuck's eyes narrowed. That was one way of making sure that Chuck wouldn't try to disappear, and if the Thing was to be believed, it wouldn't be the only one. People like Graham enjoyed their security.

The director of the CIA gave Chuck a small, sly smile.

"My friend, who I'm about to play golf with" the man actually cringed and it gave Chuck a spark of satisfaction, knowing that he got under his skin "will keep the knowledge of being tricked by you to himself for now, but in case anything happens .."

With a heavy sigh, Chuck nodded.

Nothing came for free in the spy world.

"You're free to go Mr. Bartowski" and with that, Graham disconnected.

xxxx

The fact that both directors broke the connection with the base didn't mean that their conversation was over. Far from it, actually

"She got nothing ?" Graham asked, for the first time without the pride that came from knowing his star agent so well.

Beckman nodded "He's too good for her."

It was true, but judging by the look on her counterpart's face - she could have phrased it differently.

"For them ?" the General tried, not even trying to hide her amusement.

Graham massaged his temples. He didn't like sharing his observations with Beckman, but they were truly on tight schedule, and he knew that without her connections they were both cooked.

"We have to disturb his balance. Much like Larkin did the first time, only without using your new star employees."

Beckman said nothing for a longer period of time, ignoring Graham's weak attempt at biting response.

Truth to tell, she never regretted hiring Ellie and Devon. They were both exceeding her expectations on a regular basis, and were truly getting into the groove of the way the NSA worked. Nowadays she hardly ever thought of the two in terms of bargaining chips she could hold over Orion's head. They were her employees. Not star-like, but getting there.

"I've got an idea" the General finally said, with a strange glint in her eyes.

It was risky, since her idea was a civilian, but there was no one else who could disturb Bartowski's balance as poetically as that particular woman.

**Facility under Orange-Orange**

**after the conference**

"What the ?" Chuck muttered to himself, looking around the conference room.

The briefing seemed to be over, but darling daughter for some strange reason forgot to release her father from his cell. She was the only one that remained behind the conference table, completely engrossed with the papers in front of her. Not a care in the world.

Shrugging his shoulders, Chuck went to free Jack himself.

"Let's go, Sir" Chuck said, punching the release code in. Jack's eyes held some dose of disappointment and Chuck knew from personal experience that it'll only grow over time. It was better to deal with it now.

"Agent Walker won't be joining us. Her boss asked her to stay longer" Jack nodded, but judging by his body language, didn't really buy Chuck's lie. It wasn't a surprise really, since the nerd himself didn't know why he was covering for the blonde, and without a reason it was hard to be believable.

"Where are we going ?" the older man asked

"My place. Well technically it's my sister's place, but she's out of town for a moment and it was decided that it'd be the best if you stayed with me."

Jack raised an eyebrow and Chuck immediately understood who his daughter got that gesture from.

"After the stunt I pulled, the bosses decided it'd be the best to tie you around my neck, so when I stumble they'll have something to hold over my head".

"I know it's not perfect" Chuck added quickly, sounding apologetic "but it was the best I could do"

"Don't worry about it Charlie" Jack put his hand on the younger man's shoulder and Chuck felt the strange surge of comfort going through his body. "Just get me out of here"

Sarah approached them seconds after they walked out of the holding part, determined to say something, but Chuck beat her to it

"Graham wanted you to stay behind a bit. I'll be taking your father to my place" With a curt nod, and looking both relieved and apologetic, she let both men pass. Chuck said goodbye to both Casey and Larkin and followed Jack, just as eager as the older man to leave this place behind.

xxxx

The nerd never believed himself to be good at playing host, always leaving that stuff to his sister. But like most things with Jack - it came naturally. He helped the man move his things from the hotel, gave him the spare bedroom and showed him around the house in no time.

Jack was little hesitant to accept the keys to the house, but when he saw that familiar glint in Charlie's eyes - the one from the restaurant, he found it easy to believe that Charlie wasn't really worried about his reputation. He had no doubt that the nerd would find him, and Sarah's father or not – make him regret trying anything inside this home.

**Facility under Orange-Orange**

**early the next day**

"So Mr. Bartowski. Did you make any progress with the code ?" Beckman asked.

For some reason she was alone today, and even though Chuck found nothing unusual about it, the Thing was unsettled. He felt the cold pulsating in the back of his mind, keeping all his nerve endings ready for immediate use. He wasn't exactly sure why.

"No ma'am" the nerd answered carefully.

"Well, the NSA decided to aid you in your work" Beckman smiled, making the cold intensify

"My analysts believe that the code is pretty close to what is known as molecular coding"

The picture appeared in front of Chuck's eyes, making his heart jump into his throat.

"You've got to be kidding me" the nerd muttered, forcing the attention of three agents onto himself.

"It's believed that you might gather some insight from the expert in the feel of molecular biology" Beckman continued, non pulsed. "Dr. Jill Roberts will join your team in about a week, and maybe finally we'll be able to crack that thing open"

"General, it is really necessary to expose a civilian to our op ?" Casey asked, seeing that no one else seemed interested in the matter. Even though he tried to keep his question neutral, it was impossible not to notice major's desire to change the word 'necessary' to 'smart'.

"I do major" General answered in her drill tone "Ever since agent Larkin screwed up, technicians from both CIA and NSA are working overtime to recreate the system he lost. By latest estimations we'll be barely able to make it by miss Miller's return."

"That leaves you people" even though the General addressed the entire team, her eyes were focused on Chuck alone "as the sharp end of the sword when it comes to the code. Failure, agents – is not an option" After giving her team one last glare, Beckman broke the connection.

The silence that followed was filled with thoughts.

Chuck expected something, some sort of action from either Beckman or Graham to finally force him to reveal Thing's nature, but not even in his wildest dreams he thought them to be so desperate. He checked the company's computer regularly, so he was certain that what Beckman said about the Agencies progress was all true.

The problem lied with what she didn't say.

Jill was a molecular biologist, and as far as Chuck knew – the farthest thing from a computer expert.

He would bet his life savings that the only reason she was brought aboard was to stir things up between him and Bryce, forcing him do something stupid along the way. Something that would give the brass better insight into the upload or at least something they could blackmail him with. But, in his opinion, the juice wasn't worth the squeeze - even if Beckman and Graham were truly ready to throw Miller's case out of the window without batting an eye.

Bryce stood in the same place ever since the meeting begun and even now, 5 minutes later, he wasn't able to move. Walker's failure brought a ghost of a smile to his face, but it was short lasting. In truth, he expected her to fail. This new Chuck was too much for him, so how come Beckman expected Sarah to succeed where he failed ?

But it was when the General spoke his name and a word 'failure' in a single sentence, that his world was torn apart. The Miller mission was not his fault, why did no one understand that ? It was the Intersect that failed, not the man hosting it. _The upload_ failed to recognise the danger and didn't warn him about the consequences of his actions. How come he was cleared for duty, when.

Of course...

"Your father lied to me saying I'm field ready" Bryce narrowed his eyes, looking at his ex-best friend.  
>Chuck forced himself not to roll his eyes "Deceived by a spy. Imagine that, Bryce"<br>"Imagine" Larkin parroted, before his smile turned sinister "Once Jill gets here I'll make sure you won't have to imagine a thing Chuck. You'll be able to hear everything, and if you're into that - see everything as well"  
>There was a brief moment of silence, while Chuck's eyes were searching for the ones of his former best friend. It was followed by a loud, metallic clang. Casey felt his back stiffen and Sarah quickly jumped between two males, pushing Chuck further away from all too smug looking Bryce.<br>The blond agent knew that sound very well. There was only one man who made knives sound like that when their blade was being led out. Much as there was only one reason anyone might have for a blade to appear in a split of a second.  
>"Agent Larkin" the blonde growled, forcing herself to sound professional.<p>

Bryce was famous for his compartmentalising attitude, but no matter how subjective her picture of him was, she couldn't help but find the feud between two friends being a bit too personal. A bit too raw, too fresh all of a sudden. That left her all the more intrigued about this Jill person, and what exactly did she mean to both Chuck and her boyfriend.

Larkin clenched his teeth seeing his girlfriend protecting him from Chuck. He willed himself to wonder what happened during his absence, but his mind was so filled with range that all rational thoughts quickly evaporated. Utilising the last bits of his training, Bryce once again decided to be a better man and left the base, before he could seriously hurt someone.

Once the door behind him closed Sarah breathed a sigh of relief, making Casey laugh :

"Remember Bartowski, no killing the intersect." Major's face turned serious then, with just a touch of longing "Unless you're willing to take the job"

Chuck nodded and putting the knife on the conference table, gave Sarah an apologetic smile.

"Is this going to be like that between you two once this Jill person gets here ?" Sarah asked, taking the blade away from the nerd.

It was sort of detour route towards the issue that interested her the most, but Chuck, knowing that she was Bryce's girlfriend, would likely balk at anything more direct and personal.

The man in question shrugged. "Probably".

"Who's this Jill, Bartowski ?" Casey asked, ignoring the warning look Sarah gave him.

"Jill" Chuck started, looking for a proper word "Jill is a private matter".

Both agents nodded, smart enough not to grill him about it any more. Usually there was a world of information hidden in the mimics of the face once the name of someone familiar to the subject was brought up. Both Sarah and Casey watched Chuck intently as he searched for proper word to describe dr Roberts.

There was nothing.

Chuck kept his face totally void of any emotions, making it look like he heard the name for the first time in his life. It was all the info both Casey and Sarah needed. You don't react like Chuck did when a stranger is used to provoke a reaction, and you don't block each and every memory of that person when she means nothing to you. You do that when it's quite the opposite.

Sarah's mind wandered towards Bryce. He never mentioned this Jill, but he must've known her. Well enough to put decent amount of weight into his threat of sleeping with her, if Chuck's reaction was anything to go by. But after his last display Sarah was well aware that her boyfriend needed some time to cool down.

If she should call him that. Agent things aside, his comment abut sleeping with this Jill hurt. Bryce was well aware that it would, but still decided to put her dignity on the line. Only to what ? Walk out 30 seconds later ? Maybe it would be best to keep herself occupied for the rest of the day and steer away from her boyfriend. She gave Chuck a calculating look. Absence of Bryce could work in her favour. There wasn't anyone left to interrupt her main assignment.

"You owe me a sparing session Chuck" she moved closer and her hand automatically went for his. Sarah stopped it in the last possible second, going for his elbow instead. The nerd noticed the change, but didn't say anything - even when the agent was dragging him towards the gym.

Xxxx

"Oof" Chuck could hear himself wheeze. That was the seventh time he landed flat on the ground and this time he was certain that not even divine intervention could make him stand up. What was the point anyway ? He would get maybe five seconds of the world view from his normal height before Sarah decided he had enough and would put him back in his place.

Face towards the floor.

"You know Chuck" the blonde said, not even bothering to hide her amusement "You totally suck at hand to hand"

"I know" the nerd sighted and tried to pull himself up, before his mind brought back all the reasons why he should stay exactly like he was.

"Come on" his sparring partner urged, sounding a bit irritated with the lack of challenge. When Chuck still refused to move, Sarah decided to change the tactics.

"Here"

Chuck could hear some object landing inches from his face. Closing his eyes, he waited for something to actually hit him, but when nothing like that happened, he carefully opened them back. Only to find a piece of red chalk, shaped like a knife, touching his nose.

He quickly stood up and taking the training knife in his hand, gave Sarah a puzzled look.

The blonde smiled hesitantly "You seem to enjoy knives. Let's see how good you really are"

Chuck resisted the urge to groan when he felt the cold once more invade the back of his head. Throughout the sparring the Thing proved to be completely useless. It provided the usual weakness analysis, but other than that it stayed silent. It was truly frustrating and since Sarah gradually got more and more aggressive, it was best to stop right now, before he got hurt.

"You know what" he told the eager blonde "I can't do that. I'm sorry" and without saying another word the nerd walked out.

Sarah resisted the urge to scream. From the very beginning she knew that Chuck really didn't want to fight her, so she did everything in her power to gently influence his mood. The defensive stances, really big openings, finally knife substitutes – it was all for nothing. The nerd simply wasn't interested.

She could force him of course. Bring the game to a higher level but truth to tell, she was a bit afraid of how he would react. There were no illusions in her mind as to what Chuck could do with the blade and from what she saw about him, the man was even more dangerous then usual when put up against the wall.

Tired, irritated and completely out of ideas, Sarah decided that the best way to deal with Charles Bartowski was to outsource her problem.

She called her father.

Xxxx

Chuck walked out of the gym feeling more confused than angry. The Thing's actions made absolutely no sense.

The upload had to realise that now, since the sparring attempt failed so spectacularly, agent Walker will double her efforts to find a new way to learn everything she could about his 'Intersect'. It could have given her something, anything – his fighting abilities weren't actually a mystery any more. So why didn't it ?

As if that wasn't enough, he was afraid to go back home now. Sarah Walker would no doubt call her father asking for assistance in her endeavour and Jack, being the man the upload believed him to be, would try to make them spent some time together. The future in front of him was uncomfortable, a bit frightening if Chuck was honest with himself, but most importantly – it was something that could be avoided.

Feeling betrayed by his own mind, Chuck grabbed the printout of the code from Miller's house and went towards the beach. Maybe, by some miracle, the insight will strike and he'll figure the code out, making Jill's arrival unnecessary.

This was one disaster he could still do something about.

His place at the beach was eerily quiet, with no sign on people in direct sight. Closing his eyes, Chuck tried to recall every memorised moment from his first 'mission'. There were tens of them, but none made the cold resurface. With his eyes still closed, Chuck blindly opened the printout on the random page and took a quick glance.

It worked.

The images appeared in front of his eyes as usual, but this time he couldn't make anything out of them. They came in hundreds and unlike before, none of them lingered long enough for Chuck to memorise even the basic facts. They passed by too fast.

Chuck tried to repeat his rapid exposure technique several times, but other than figuring that the flash seemed to be identical every time he looked at the code, he had nothing. The Thing seemed adamant to keep him away from the code.

And that was another problem.

From the very beginning Chuck believed the Thing to be just a layer of his personality. Something that showed up one day, replaced his own Id, and decided to stay. But recently he started to find holes in that theory.

It screamed at him when he ignored it during Miller's mission. The fact that it could do it meant the Thing was passionate, that it had emotions. It also made mistakes – the sparring being most bright of them all. It was an unexpected conclusion, but other than the fact that the upload could kill someone without an eye blink, they weren't so different after all.

And if that was true, if the Thing wasn't just a layer but a complete set – it was fair to assume that they could communicate with one another.

**Casa Bartowski**

**same day**

"Charlie" Jack Burton smiled, seeing his personal saviour walk through the front door "Just in time, dinner is almost ready"

Chuck nodded, taking a quick look at the table. The thought that three hours ago was mildly irritating, now served as a source of amusement. There were three plates at the table, just like he expected.

"I invited my daughter to eat with us, I hope it's ok ?" Jack asked, looking apologetic.

_Might as well be _Chuck thought to himself. After all, agent Walker would have to start at some point. "Sure, I'm glad you're spending time together"

Jack gave him a relieved smile, happy that at least part of Chuck's statement was true.

xxxx

The dinner was a tense affair. All three ate in silence, despite the fact that Sarah was sending her father pleading looks to do something about the silence from the moment they sat down. Jack risked a fleeting look at their host. Out of three of them, Chuck looked most at ease.

"So Charlie, I noticed that you keep a lot of pictures around the house" Sarah tensed, aiming a kick at her father's leg to silence him up. Family wasn't a safe subject when Chuck was concerned, and his anger was the last thing the blonde needed. Unfortunately she missed, making the chair on Jack's right jump into the air.

"but they're all of your sister and you. What about your parents ?"

"They're gone" Chuck answered without a second thought, surprising both Jack and Sarah " Mom left when I was about 10, father did the same 6 years later"

Neither of his guests said anything.

"It's funny" a small smile appeared on the nerd's face "but while they were here, I used to believe that people were meant to die in pairs. My parents were always around each other." both father and daughter looked at each other with uneasiness etched on their faces.

"I still do, if fact" Chuck said, oblivious to everything except his thoughts "but for all the wrong reasons. Dad was never the same after mom left. Dead to the world. " he shook his head

"I can't believe hearts can cool down so much".

Sarah didn't know what to think. Every angle of approach she chose, Chuck always proved to be too good, too true, too much. He always knew what to say, and how to say it. Even if his situation at home was the farthest thing from what she experienced and there was no way she could relate, the depth of his confession still tightened her heart.

She gave her father another pleading look, but Jack just shrugged his shoulders, refusing further assistance. Sarah could see it in his eyes - the conman was uncomfortable playing the mark. Unbelievable.

Chuck's thoughts, in the meantime, took a u-turn. Talking about his parents brought back the latest phone call with his father. That brought back the code, and the problem of communicating with the Thing.

"How would you talk to someone who can't hear a thing and doesn't understand your language ?" Chuck asked, breaking the staring contest between Jack and Sarah. "If you needed to keep the conversation private ?"

Sarah had to admit that the first thing that came to her mind was astonishment at such an abrupt change of topic, but it was quickly followed by the idea of a sign language. Smiling at her own ingenuity, she opened her mouth to make a first headway into her assignment..

"Pictures" her father said, looking pleased with himself "Try pictures"

Chuck gave him a smile worthy of at least world's famine solution, making Sarah roll her eyes at their antics.

The dinner went silent once again, but this time it was the comfortable kind of silence. It made Sarah feel secure, and for some reason - happy. She left Casa Bartowski with genuine sadness in her heart, and overwhelming desire for a replay.

**Facility under Orange-Orange**

**early the next day**

"What's with the cloud ? " Casey asked, pointing towards one of the buttons on the espresso machine, the one with a cloud symbol over it.

Sarah shrugged "Maybe it's coffee for a rainy day ?"

Ever since Bryce came back, the status of their little operation has changed. It was now a first grade gig, and that meant new equipment. Being naturally gifted in different aspects of agent work the responsibilities were quickly divided. Casey took care of the armoury upgrade, Sarah dealt with food supply and the dojo.

The technical stuff went to Chuck.

That was the reason why both agents were currently standing in front of a coffee machine that had more buttons than computer keyboard.

With identical blank looks on their faces.

"Hey guys" Chuck said cheerfully "Have trouble deciding what you want ?" the nerd asked, placing his cup on it's designed place inside the machine. Four keystrokes and a couple of seconds later it was filled with a delicious smelling coffee.

Chuck was about to head out to work on the code, when he noticed that neither Casey nor Sarah moved from their spots. His smile changed from happy to curious and finally to concerned as the light of the situation hit him, but neither Sarah nor Casey saw anything arrogant or demeaning about his grin. Despite the fact that he had every right to look smug.

"Come on" Chuck said, putting his cup down. He quickly took theirs and placed them inside the machine. "What do you guys want ?"

"Straight with double sugar for me" Casey said. "Latte for me" Sarah added with a smile. Chuck pressed several buttons and couple of seconds later both agents could enjoy their choices.

The nerd nodded politely even though neither agent said 'Thank you', took his cup and code printout and walked away from the conference centre.

"Where are you going Chuck? " Sarah asked, intrigued by his behaviour

"The cell" the nerd answered with small smile "I need to think"

Casey just shrugged and Sarah decided it'd be best to leave him alone. For now.

xxxx

The familiar feeling of calm and an empowering lightness took over Chuck's body once the door to the cell closed.

This was his place.

He separated it's security system from the main computer and set his own opening and closing code, so no one would mess with it. And no one did. Everything looked exactly like he left it - even the mess on the cot.

Not really sure how to say 'I'm clueless' in a picture-speak, Chuck imagined himself standing in front of a crossroads and closed his eyes.

The reaction was immediate.

The Thing provided three-picture response, but those pictures were slightly different from Chuck's attempt at hello.

All three were three-dimensional and even though they appeared static, Chuck noticed a slight change of colours inside each cube. Fascinated, the nerd tried to concentrate on the closest one to his left, but once again the Thing was faster. Even before he managed to fully form the thought, the upload already moved him right into the middle of the first cube.

It was a moment from a couple of days ago, the one in which he almost took Sarah's life – detailed to perfection.

The picture was indeed static, and the changing colours seemed to concentrate behind two main characters, creating some sort of an aura. Sine the colours were the only part of the picture that was changing, Chuck figured they were the way his upload chose to communicate.

He distinctly remembered Ellie teaching him about the colours and the way they could express emotions. It was a week after their parents left, and Chuck couldn't find it in himself to say how he felt about it. Ellie, always wise beyond her years, suggested a picture with a lot of colours. Both siblings sitting together, argued about the amount of red Chuck used to paint the sky – it was almost like their parents were still there. Great, but painful times.

Sarah glowed white inside the picture, but as Chuck stood in his spot watching the terror etched on her face, the contours of her aura changed to purple. He never really associated white with pureness and innocence, as it was custom. To him it always meant shock, so if he was understanding the Thing's language, Sarah was shocked seeing him there.

Shocked and ? ..he never really had an emotion for purple. The colour always felt hard to classify, too complex to express a solid emotion. The Thing decided to help once again, squinting Chuck's eyes and forcing him to look at the edges of the aura.

The purple changed into the mixture of red and blue and finally it all made sense.

Blue was associated with peace and tranquillity, red meant passion and determination. Together they created a complex emotion - understandable from agent's point of view, but one that the upload somehow managed to miss.

Because if the Thing knew how Sarah was feeling, there was no reason for it to try and kill her. Unless... Chuck turned towards his own representation.

His aura was black, with the edges slowly turning towards dark red. He could understand dark red, since it was red and black mixed together, but he had no association with black.

Unlike most people Chuck never connected black with death. For some reason that thought made him uncomfortable, and he could only assume that it was one of many things he should thank his parents for.

Having no other alternative Chuck squinted his eyes, hoping to see something more within the leading colour of his character's aura. The cold froze the back of his head, but it didn't disperse the black. Instead it changed the picture entirely.

Chuck saw himself within one of his distant memories, seconds before Ellie grabbed his hand. It was the day his sister told him that their parents were gone, and with the frail touch tried to give him as much comfort as she could.

The picture changed.

It was Ellie again, moments after she tucked him to bed during the same nightmare of a day. The Thing placed him a bit closer to her, so now he could see the tears she managed to hide from his younger self.

The picture changed again.

This time Ellie was standing in the kitchen. With a medical journal in hand she was making him dinner.

Chuck forced the Thing to stop.

It was enough – he understood that black meant power, authority and soul twisting determination to protect those he cared about. Even though his eyes were already closed, Chuck tried to shut them even tighter, forcing the tears to stay away. He swore to himself that it was the last time he asked his upload for an explanation of the colour coded emotions. He'd learn it's language on his own.

It took couple of minutes before Chuck deemed himself calm enough to try again. Among the onslaught of emotions he was forced to experience, Chuck also noticed that the Thing was familiar with his memories. Maybe he could get the answer to the sparring session with Sarah, and why the Thing turned it into disaster ?

He brought the picture of Sarah inside the dojo to the front of his mind and, much like the last time, the Thing answered immediately.

Chuck was a bit surprised to find that the picture wasn't of the sparring session, but of the dinner he had with Sarah and Jack. His character's aura was yellow, with touches of pink and red, his guest's had all shades of blue surrounding them, with bits of red closer to where Sarah's character was sitting. The picture was quickly replaced, allowing Chuck no time to ponder the meaning of the colours.

This time the picture showed both Sarah and Chuck during their dinner night again, but seconds before the blonde left. Chuck's eyes grew wide when he saw both of their auras to be charcoal grey with the touches of gold at the edges. If he was right in his assumption and charcoal grey meant regret, while gold meant something precious and therefore worth repeating...

It meant that the Thing liked agent Walker.

Chuck suddenly had enough of talking for one day.

xxxx

"Did you find something ?" Sarah asked once Chuck walked out of his cell. The question seemed to catch him off guard because his face changed from pensive to embarrassed in a split of a second. Not really sure how to phrase his thoughts, Chuck blurted out the first thing that came to his mind :

"The Thing has a thing for you" he said, getting redder with ever passing second

"Excuse me ?"

"The upload. My Intersect. It umm ..fancies you".

Sarah blinked.

"I know, right ?" Chuck was instantly on the roll. "It's absurd and I'm sorry ..I think. It's not my fault though. The Thing decided for itself and believe me, I tried to convince it that this whole idea wouldn't work but.." the nerd bumbled away.

Sarah used the soothing timbre of Chuck's voice to calm her racing thoughts. His revelation opened up a door she deemed closed ever since their dinner. If what he said was true then the road was still there, already laid out for her. All she had to do was to use Chuck's Intersect infatuation with her to reveal something more about it.

And she'd finally be free of that assignment.

Free of Burbank, of Casey and the NSA. Free of Chuck.

Chuck...

The man brought more serenity into her life during last three days than she herself managed to during her entire CIA service. He kept her father out of jail, saved her career and not once hinted that he wanted something in return. She didn't understand him at times, but saw with her own eyes how passionate he was in defending what he believed was right. How adamant in protecting his family. She wanted some of that for herself.

"It just doesn't listen" Chuck continued, undeterred.

From the entire sentence Sarah caught a single word. _It. _

Chuck called his Intersect an it, and that wasn't the first time today. He made it sound like the Intersect was something interdependent from him, something separate from his personality. She had to know how many of his latest actions were his own, and how many ..were not.

"Chuck" Sarah tried to catch his attention "Chuck !"

"Yes" the nerd blinked, shaking his head

"The Miller's case, was it the Thing ?"

The nerd hesitated a bit. "It showed me a way in. The rest was me. "

Sarah nodded. "Mugler's disarming ?"

"Both of us. It's a bit hard to explain".

Sarah nodded again, this time with a heavy heart. She already knew what kind of answer to expect from her last question. "The base, when I came in..."

"The Thing"

and so it was. The Thing's infatuation was nothing more than agent's 'feelings'. It mattered little that Chuck's Intersect found her attractive, since it was ready to kill her the moment she disrupted it's integrity. Or threatened the host.

That difficulty for some strange reason brought a smile to her face.

"For the record" the blonde asked "do you find me attractive ?" Chuck reddened making the agent laugh.

"Let's leave it at that for the moment, Mr Bartowski"

**Casa Bartowski**

**later the same day**

Much like the last time, the pressure at the back of his head appeared out of nowhere, forcing Chuck to pick up the phone and call his father's number. And much like the last time, there was little he could do about it.

"Bartowski" his father picked up after first ring

"You put another personality inside my head"

So maybe it wasn't the best way to start a conversation with one's parent, but Chuck believed he had a right to be angry.

"Chuck ?"

"How the hell should I know ?" the younger Bartowski asked, loosing the rest of his calm.

Orion wasn't most empathic person in the world but even he could sense that something was wrong.

"Son, calm down. What happened"

"You made me a textbook dissociative identity disorder case. I think I have the right to be a bit upset".

"The upload isn't an alternate personality" Orion said, forcing his voice to sound calm.

"Then what is it ? I think I deserve to know"

"No, you don't. But it matters little at the moment"

Chuck gritted his teeth, but stopped himself from voicing another sarcastic comment.

"The upload is a day to day diary of memories. Those memories covered 28 years of a certain agent's life. I removed every bit of personal info before I uploaded them into you."

Chuck blinked.

Orion's words were much like his thoughts – chaotic. Chuck felt even more confused than before, but there was no point in informing his father about that fact. Not yet, anyway.

"and once they were uploaded" the nerd gently prompted

"Your mind begun treating those memories as it's own. It worked because it was impossible for you to find any inconsistencies between your own experiences and the uploaded data. Every personal detail, every picture of the host within the upload, even the times when the host looked into the mirror were removed. Since those memories were placed in your subconsciousness, and the mechanism of repression works only for concious mind, your psyche had no other way then to accept them. So it bent your mind to create another personality, compatible with those memories."

Orion cleared his throat.

"The upload, or the Thing as you call it, is you Charles. Well, technically it's another version of you. But the point of the principle stands".

Chuck sighted heavily.

Up to this moment it was incredibly easy to think that his father lost his marbles and last two days of his life were just a colourful nightmare. But now things started to make sense. Pictures, colour coded emotions, inability to speak. He suddenly felt insignificant. But since their time was limited, Chuck decided to forget about his worth and learn as much as he could, starting with the significance of the material he had inside his head.

"What was so special about those memories ?" the nerd asked

"They came from an experimental training program. About five decades ago the brightest minds of our nation were tasked with developing perfect agent training routine. The operation was so secret that it didn't even have a name. No documentation was made, and the participants of the project used numbers to communicate with each other."

Orion sighted, lowering his voice

"After years of work they came up with a solution. It was believed that it will take 28 years to train a perfect agent – from a day old infant till person's physical and mental peak. Each day was covered, each activity described and each scenario foresaw. "

"The government made a single attempt at this program, and it was deemed a formidable success, but one day their agent disappeared, erasing all evidence of the project existence, with no way to trace it back. The government spent lots of time and resources to find said agent, but ultimately - they failed. It was due to the complexity of the entire endeavour and lack of any official documentation that the project was closed and now serves only as one of the urban legends among senior CIA and NSA staff."

Chuck could feel the cold in the back of his head intensify.

Something didn't seem right.

"How did you extract those memories ?".

Orion said nothing.

When the silence grew to uncomfortable proportions, Chuck decided to try again.

"If it's just an urban legend, than how come you know all the details about it ?"

"Because I helped that agent disappear. We were pretty good friends once".

"Thank you for that info. It means a lot to me." Chuck said sincerely and noticing Jack coming towards the front door, quickly disconnected.

The sincerity of his son's voice brought a shadow of doubt onto Orion's carefully laid plans. Maybe he shouldn't have kept that agent's identity a secret..

_A/N – thanks for staying till the end. I hope you liked the chapter._


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